Ladywolf
by theBabewiththePower
Summary: The Goblin King and the girl should have been more careful. Now they are bound together, far from home. What will they do, when all they have left is each other? J/S
1. The Beast Within

**Author's Note: This is rated for sexual content and other adult themes, NO KIDDIES ALLOWED! Seriously, I want to be able to sleep at night without worrying that I have corrupted or traumatized some 12 year old.**

 **This starts right at the ending of the movie, but please note there will not be any underage or non-con.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Beast Within

* * *

The owl watched the creatures on the other side of the window with cold curiosity. He knew them all, he should know them all anyway, though they were not like him. They were not prey, nor were they kin. He clicked his beak in irritation, he longed to fly free, but he felt bound to these creatures, _that_ one in particular, and he did not know why. Fixing his gaze on the tall one with dark hair, it all started to trickle back to him, in bits and pieces. He was the Goblin King, those were his subjects, and the girl was….

- _No, he must not allow himself to think of that_ -

-this was not his regular form. He ruffled his feathers in dismay, what had just happened? He had never forgot himself when he took different shapes before, he was not one to let his mind wander. What bothered him most about it was that it hadn't felt like _his_ mind, not entirely, anyway.

He watched the party for a few moments more, an icy bitterness taking hold in his heart. It didn't matter, nothing mattered, not after what had just happened in his Labyrinth. Overcome with emotion too painful to suppress, he turned his back on her, spread his wings and took flight, intending to return home, to try and forget.

The frigid, immeasurable blackness of the night sky blanketing New York tore at his feathers and burned his eyes as the wind whistled around him, whispering taunts and mockeries. He beat his wings furiously on his course towards the moon, towards the secret path between worlds that he had created, towards his false salvation. Seeing ahead of him the small, nearly imperceptible circle where the stars seemed to twist and stretch approaching, the place where reality seemed somehow corrupted and hollow, he streamlined himself and drove forward with a screech. In a moment, he would be back in his world, his kingdom, where everything had always been under _his_ control, where no one would ever _dare_ to defy him again.

Where no one would ever wound him like this again. He had been a fool, he knew, to indulge in such fancy. Love was a weakness, weakness that a King could not afford.

He would have to change things, become more strict and unforgiving. There could be no more singing and revelry, no more foolish indulgences, either by him or his subjects. Today's events would be forgotten, erased, and his heart would be unassailable stone.

Then maybe, just maybe, he could forget _her._

He closed his eyes as he came upon the portal, bitterly embracing this bleak but necessary future. There was a shock as he collided with what felt like a brick wall in midair, and, hurriedly recovering from a downward free fall, he rose back to where the portal was, bruised and baffled. First his memory lapse, now this… something was not right. He cautiously flew around the portal a few times, reaching out with his magic to decipher what might be impeding him. There was nothing, just the feel of empty space, which was so very, very _wrong_. There was no doubt that this was the portal he had created, but he couldn't feel any magic from it, which made no sense at all. Why wasn't it letting him through?

He tried again a few more times, each and every attempt ending in failure. He circled back down to the ground and landed in a dark grassy alleyway between backyards, wings exhausted and head throbbing. He felt as if there was a pressure in his mind, something trying to break free of the restraints of his consciousness, and it was distractingly painful. He twisted his shoulders so as to turn back into himself, thinking to conjure a medicinary crystal for his headache, so he could _think_ , figure out what was happening. He rested on the grass, fighting nausea and the throbbing in his head as he prepared himself, trying to focus his thoughts on what he wanted. After a moment he noticed, when no crystal appeared in his hand, that he was still in his owl form. He twisted his shoulders again distractedly, willing himself to turn back.

Nothing happened.

Suppressing the icy fingers of panic that had begun digging into his stomach, the Goblin King tried several more times, but each attempt was as unsuccessful as the last. Realizing that for some unfathomable reason he was stuck as an owl, he took off at once for Sarah's house, eyes blurring against the painful pressure in his head. It mortified him to return, but he was growing desperate. He would get the attention of one of his subjects while they were still in the Aboveworld, they could help him get back through the mirror. Whatever this was, it was something that could only be dealt with in the Underground, in the land of magic. Magic that seemed, unexplainably, to be unavailable to him at the moment.

However, his bad luck for the night was far from over. Within a few minutes, the owl's flight path became loopy and twisted as he flew off course. The bird of prey's eyes scanned the ground below for movement, for a potential meal, the Goblin King's previous destination forgotten. The owl could care less about changing shape; though his other consciousness had deemed it a top priority, he did not. He sensed the girl nearby and resented the bone deep feeling of being bound to her. He couldn't stray too far, but he had no intention of going any closer, either. So he flew, and hunted, and watched the noisy, sparkling world beneath him. After a few hours he settled on a low tree branch a mile or so from her house, staring reproachfully towards the east, waiting for the dawn. The owl felt a sense of foreboding as the first lights appeared in the distance, signaling the end of his domain, the end of the night. As the golden light of dawn began to illuminate the distant hills, the owl's eyes closed and it fell from the branch to the ground below, landing with a quiet thump.

It lay there on its stomach on the dewy grass of an alien suburban lawn, wings spread out at unnatural angles and beak slightly open, taloned toes loose and limp. The sun gilded the sky as it readied itself to break over the distant hills, preparing to fill the world with light and warmth, oblivious to the small, still bundle of feathers that was lying alone on the ground. Finally cresting the horizon, the sun shone its first golden rays on the owl, and the small creature began to grow and change. In the time it took to draw a breath, the bird had been replaced by a beautiful man with long, lean, muscular limbs and an abundance of wild blonde hair, lying naked and unconscious on the dewy green grass.

* * *

Some distance away, as the first lights of dawn intruded through her window, Sarah Williams turned uncomfortably in her bed, her innocent dreams of magical forests and crystal ballrooms being warped into something darker, simpler, far more animalistic. She began to twist in her sheets, sweating and whimpering as she unconsciously fought against the thing crawling out from deep within her. Her whimpers soon changed into low growls, though, and her writhing ended with her sheets being ripped to shreds by her new claws.

"Sarah? Sarah are you alright? I thought I heard something." a woman's sleepy and concerned voice called out from the other side of the door.

Green eyes opened in sudden alertness and silence fell over the room.

"Sarah? Sarah answer me! Oh, for goodness sakes girl, I'm coming in. I swear, if you let that dog sleep in there again-"

Karen's words died on her tongue as she opened the door, revealing a large white wolf in the center of the room, hackles raised and teeth bared. She let loose a blood-curdling scream as the wolf leapt at her with open jaws, and she slammed the door shut, causing the wolf to yelp as it crashed into the door, before she took off running down the hall.

"Robert! ROBERT! Wake up!" Karen screeched as she burst into the master bedroom. The balding, middle aged man in pinstriped pajamas shot out of bed at his wife's screams, grabbing his rifle from under the mattress and fishing ammunition out of the bedside drawer.

"Jesus, Karen, be quiet! Tell me what's wrong!" he tried to silence his hysterical wife, ears pricked and senses alert for potential danger to his family.

"Something's happened! There's a _wolf_ in Sarah's room!" even as she spoke she realized how absurd she sounded, and an embarrassed blush further reddened her already flushed face.

Robert stopped loading the gun to gawk at his wife. "Come again?"

"I saw it! It was a big white wolf, it tried to kill me! I swear it, Robert!" she whispered hysterically, realizing too late that Toby had been awoken by her panicked screams.

Robert eyed his wife skeptically. "Maybe you were just dreaming, dear," he started soothingly.

A thud and a snarl from down the hall silenced them both, casting any doubts as to his wife's sanity from Robert's mind. He had never been a terribly imaginative person, he liked facts and numbers; safe, logical things that always behaved as they should. And yet, on this most bizarre of mornings, he suddenly found himself thinking of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and how the wolf had eaten up the little girl, and how the huntsman had saved her by cutting open its belly. He didn't have an axe, but he did have a rifle. He turned to his wife.

"What about Sarah?" he whispered desperately.

"I- I don't know. I called for her, but there was no answer. It all happened so fast, I didn't see-" Karen whispered brokenly, fighting back the hysterical sobs that threatened to break free from her painfully constricted throat.

Robert's expression turned grim and determined. "Take Toby and lock yourself in the car with him. If I don't come out in 10 minutes, drive to the police station." he wasn't entirely sure what the police would be able to do, but, that was what would be logical in any similar, real-life situation.

"Oh, Robert!" Karen wailed, flinging her arms around her husband's neck and giving in to her panicked sobs.

He loosened her arms and held her away from him, a pained expression on his face. "Get it together, Karen! The baby needs you right now."

Karen nodded tearfully, reaching up to give her husband a final kiss before hurrying across the room to retrieve Toby, who had been wailing since first hearing his mother's screams. She gathered him in her arms and started down the stairs, pausing as she reached the front door to look up and lock eyes with her husband. They both jumped as Toby's cries were answered by a long, low howl coming from Sarah's room, and Karen hurried out the front door, not daring to look back.

Robert swallowed thickly and released the safety on the gun, walking barefoot down the hall with slow, measured steps. As he neared his daughter's room, the animalistic snarling and scratching sounds disappeared altogether, and a heavy, ominous silence filled the house.

He stopped in front of the bedroom door, feeling a terror so deep and potent that his mind imagined that he was not frightened at all, no, this was just some horrible, impossible dream that he was, in fact, completely detached from. He nodded to reassure himself, of course, this was ridiculous, there really was nothing to fear. He was having a scotch-induced nightmare, where he was the huntsman of one of his daughter's fairy stories that she used to try to get him to act out with her. Soon he would wake up, and all would be well. That simply made more sense; a sane, logical man would embrace it wholeheartedly and simply wait for reality to reappear.

But just to be sure…

"Sarah? Sarah, honey, can you hear me? Answer me, sweetheart. _Please._ "

There was no answer.

He reached out a shaking hand and turned the knob, flinging the door open wide and placing his finger on the trigger.

The room was trashed. Toys and books were strewn all over the floor, bedding and stuffed animals ripped to pieces.

His eyes swept over the room, seeing no sign of life. Just as he was about to lower the gun, a sudden movement from the far side of the bed flashed in the corner of his eyes, and he impulsively turned towards it and fired.

The wolf leapt forward, feeling something sharp and hot graze her as she leapt at the man, knocking him aside in her desperate bid for freedom. She was terrified and confused, two consciousnesses at war in her mind, one of them, the human one, was horrified at the behavior of the man, the man who was supposed to be her protector, her father, and bewildered at the unfamiliar shape of her body. The other, the wolf, was panicked at being confined and cornered; it longed for open space to run, for a place to hide. In the moments before the gun fired, the stronger, more primal consciousness won out.

She tore down the stairs and out of the open front door before the man could get to his feet again, barely sparing a glance for the screaming woman and child in the car as she raced past them.

She was free, but she had no idea where to go.

* * *

Far, far away, in another world, a world of magic and meaning, the Goblin City's inhabitants slept peacefully, unaware of the encroaching danger, of the swords that would soon held to their throats, of the dark times to come. The bluish light of the twin moons cast shadows over the stone streets and illuminated the rooftops with their cool silver glow, creating an illusion of stillness and peace. A tall, thin shape cloaked all in black moved silently through the streets, and all about him large, grotesque shapes danced from shadow to shadow as they made their way to the castle beyond the Goblin City.

As the tall figure confidently approached the huge, ancient castle doors, a wall of translucent magic became increasingly visible, like a dome over the castle, glowing with an ever-brighter crystalline sheen as it sensed the approaching threat. The dark figure stopped a few paces from the shield, raising a gloved hand and beginning to chant under his breath, thinning and draining the shield's power. Under any normal circumstances, any attempt to tamper with such magic would have been fatal, giving the castle's defender a direct line to the invaders heart. But this shield's creator was cursed and bound in another world right now, ignorant and powerless, the man cloaked in black had seen to that.

He raised both hands, palms facing the shield, his chanting becoming breathy and strained as he fought against this magic, magic so very different from his own, created by one whose power had surpassed even his own, though only slightly. With one final effort, the shield cracked and shattered, the massive shards of crystal that rained down on him dissipating into mist before they touched the ground, the spell broken. Followed by his distorted minions, he walked forward calmly, entering the night-darkened castle as if he had done so a thousand times before. His steps led him without err to the throne room, where he stopped suddenly in the entranceway, overcome with silent emotion as his hazel eyes swept the dark, empty room. After a minute of collecting himself, he took the final steps of his long, difficult trek, and slowly settled himself on the throne.

 _At last_.

Sinister clouds and rolling thunder filled the sky then, blocking out all light. Just before the moonlight was snuffed out, a triumphant smile could be seen glinting from beneath his hood.

The Dark King had come.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **I hope you weren't expecting another comedy.**

 **The inspiration for this story comes from the movie 'Ladyhawke', which I have, in all honesty, never actually seen, but I read a bit about it and thought the idea was so beautifully, tragically romantic. I was immediately beset by angsty plot bunnies that followed me around, singing dramatic operatic numbers about Jareth and Sarah, so I had no choice but to write this. Also, I don't think anyone has written a Ladyhawke inspired Labyfic yet, so booyah! If you are familiar with the movie, don't look for similarities, this is a Labyrinth fic through and through. I am using the night and day idea, but the rest is of my own imagining.**

 **Please review! This is a new genre for me, so I would really appreciate feedback.**


	2. Losing Your Head Over a Girl

Chapter 2: Losing Your Head Over A Girl

* * *

"Do you think he's one of those fraternity boys?"

The voice drifted through the fog of a dissipating dream, the words sounding disconnected and fuzzy, as if he was underwater.

"I don't know, Jean, he looks a little old for that. Maybe he's just the victim of some prank gone wrong? Best not to judge. Besides, I haven't enjoyed such a fine view in a good many years-"

"Lois!"

"What? As if you weren't looking too!"

The voices were clearer now, but he wasn't paying attention.

 _What was that dream? It seemed important…. There was a man in a black cloak…a bonfire...chanting…_

"Well, we have to do something! I've half a mind to call the police-"

"You'll do no such thing! He's on _my_ lawn, and I intend to take care of the poor dear! Heaven _knows_ what he's been through." Lois said, taking off her white knitted shawl and draping it over his hips.

His _bare_ hips.

Jareth shot up from the ground, immediately projecting an air of regal confidence and dignity, a response that was made even more impressive considering that he had woken up naked and confused on the ground, with two elderly ladies smiling bemusedly at him and bits of grass sticking to him all over.

He quickly snatched at the shawl, which had slipped as he stood, and wrapped it around his hips, forcing his features to appear nonchalant and refusing to acknowledge the two blushing old women in front of him as he tied it around his waist and tried furiously to remember how he had ended up here, and in this undressed state, no less.

As he focused his mind, trying to remember, it all came back to him at once. The memories of all that had transpired the previous day and night hit him like a ton of bricks, making him gasp as if the wind had been knocked out of him, the distressing memories temporarily overwhelming him. He was trapped and powerless in this foreign world, and he had no idea why. Who would do this? How? Perhaps it was some sort of magical accident. No one had ever beaten the Labyrinth before, maybe it had something to do with that. He shook his head, trying to regain some composure, then set off in the direction of Sarah's house. He had to get through the mirror, back to his kingdom, had to figure out-

"Whoa, there, sugar, you can't go marchin' off down the street starkers, you know, you'll get yourself thrown in jail!" One of the old ladies, Lois, called after him.

Jareth stopped, realizing that he was indeed still in the nude, save for the loosely knitted white shawl he held around his waist, which really didn't hide anything at all. He sighed in frustration, then snorted as he pictured himself trying to get to the mirror portal looking like this.

" _Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Williams. I'm a fairy-tale king from one of Sarah's story books. Mind if I use your daughter's bedroom for a moment?"_

 _That_ would go smoothly.

"Look, dearie, why don't you come inside. I've got the kettle on, a nice cup of tea will do you right." Lois, whom he surmised owned the property he had woken up on, said to him.

He turned around, but before he could respond, the other woman, Jean, interjected.

"Lois, you can't be serious, you don't know anything about him! He could be a, a..." The woman shot a scandalized glare at the near-naked king and whispered loudly in her friend's ear. "-a _sexual deviant_!" Jean looked emphatically at her friend, gauging if her words had had the desired impact.

Jareth raised his eyebrows, looking back and forth from one elderly lady to the other. Perhaps one of them owned one of those automobiles that people used. That would be convenient. And this Lady Lois seemed intent on making herself his ally.

Lois, however, was not to be swayed. "Nonsense, I'm sure he's a nice lad, just down on his luck is all. Isn't that right, dearie?" She smiled at him kindly, sharp blue eyes twinkling out at him from her deeply wrinkled face.

"I appreciate your offer of hospitality, ma'am, but there is somewhere I have to be-" Jareth said.

"Of course, of course, but first you must come in and warm up. I think my Jim's old clothes might fit you, he was a lean one, too." She gave him a wink and began tottering back up to her house, humming an upbeat hymn, and clearly expecting him to follow.

 _Well, clothes would be good…_ Jareth thought bemusedly, resigned steps leading him up the lawn and past Jean, who glared at him suspiciously through her thick, round glasses. Jareth winked and blew her a kiss. Jean gasped, blushing beet red before turning quickly and tottering off back to her own house across the street, muttering under her breath about 'the drugs' and 'that crazy old goat'.

* * *

Officer Beaumont stared at the distraught woman seated in front of him, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. He would have thought her mad and called in a psych evaluation right away if her husband hadn't been sitting there at her side, silently agreeing with everything she said. In his experience, these types of cases went into two categories: The normal crazy that he dealt with everyday, and the weird crazy that he called in the specialists for. He wasn't quite sure which category this case fit into yet.

"So, let's go over this one more time. Your daughter's missing, and you think a _white wolf_ is somehow responsible?"

"Yes, yes! I know how it sounds, Officer, but you have to believe us, you have to help us! That _beast_ is out there right now, people are going to get hurt!" Karen Williams tearfully implored him.

"And how do I know that _you_ aren't responsible for your step-daughter's disappearance, that you're not just making up this whole 'wolf' thing as some type of bizarre cover story? Perhaps you intend to plead insanity when she's found? You did tell me that you and Sarah fought last night, over your son, Toby. Maybe you decided that she didn't fit in with your happy little family anymore." He fixed her with a hard stare, looking carefully with his practiced eye for any signs of deception or guilt. He saw none.

"I- I would never! Robert and I are _good_ parents, our children are given everything they want, Sarah goes to the best schools, has everything she would ever want or need! She's a _teenager_ , of course we fought, that's what teenagers _do_ with their parents! I'm telling the truth! Right Robert? Robert?" Karen said, turning to her husband for support.

Officer Beaumont's eyes flicked over to the dazed, white-faced man who sat next to Karen. His eyes were unfocused, and his lips moved, though no sound came out. Glancing briefly at his wife, he nodded slowly in agreement. Finally, he managed a few frail words.

"It's all true. Karen would never hurt Sarah. Oh Sarah... where are you..." He trailed off, his eyes glazing over once more.

"Please, I've told you everything a hundred times, just help us find her!" Karen pleaded.

Officer Beaumont was torn. The woman had unconsciously referred to the alleged missing girl in the present tense after he'd provoked her, so he doubted there was any foul play on her part. The man clearly didn't have the stomach for any type of crime, so he was out as a suspect. His gut told him there was more to this than a runaway teen girl, but without proof, there was nothing he could do. Because she was over the age of fourteen, he wouldn't even be able to file a missing person's report until 24 hours had elapsed. He was about to tell them so when there was knock on his office door. Lindsey, the office secretary, poked her head in.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but your son needs a diaper change, ma'am. Also, Officer Beaumont, I think you might want to turn on the news."

Beaumont raised an eyebrow in question, but all he got from Lindsey was an enigmatic look before she led the woman from the room to tend to her child. He glanced at the man, who was still staring unseeingly at the desk that sat between them, before pushing his chair back and swiveling in the seat so as to be able to reach the little television he kept on the shelf. Letting out an irritated sigh, he turned the knob and pushed the channel button until he got to a news site. The reporter's energetic voice filled the dusty little office.

"Plenty of excitement today in our small town as several people make 911 calls about - a wolf sighting! That's right folks, you heard that correctly, and KYEM has even obtained some video of the wild animal running through our quiet suburban streets, as seen on the screen behind me. Authorities are asking citizens to keep their distance and call 911 if the wolf is seen, do not approach it! The questions everyone's asking: Where did it come from? How did it get here, and why? Stay tuned to KYEM channel 4, your reliable local news outlet, for more exciting updates as they become available."

Officer Beaumont blinked in disbelief. So this was the weird kind of crazy, then.

"Sit tight, Mr. Williams, I'll be right back, just need to make a quick call."

Robert Williams made no answer, he just sat staring solemnly at the TV screen. He had a sinking suspicion about where his daughter was, but he couldn't say anything. It was too bizarre to believe, but he knew it was true. The wolf, it had had her eyes...

Beaumont left the little office, stepping into an empty office across the hall and dialing a number that he only used for 'special' cases, like this one. He had been given the number after working a case with seemingly real, functional hoodoo dolls a decade back. After the news had latched on to the story, some government agents had swooped in and taken over the case, instructing him to call them if anything 'weird' ever happened in his precinct again. The first time he had called had been after a mother had come in, insisting that a woman had turned into a horse and carried off her teenage son, drowning him in the lake. The second time was a man with the alleged ability to walk through walls. Both times, he had made the call, and soon after, a half dozen black government vans had appeared in town, and the 'problems' would mysteriously disappear.

The ringing stopped as the person on the other end picked up. "Agent Huerk? Hello, it's George Beaumont, I've got a case I think you might be interested in…"

Engrossed in the conversation, he never noticed the extra shadow hovering directly behind him.

* * *

Sarah came back to herself about two blocks from the park. She froze, trying to push down her panic while reconciling herself with the fact that she was standing on four legs instead of two.

 _Calm down, Sarah, just breath, breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out…_

She had to relax, had to calm down. She focused on her calming breaths, trying not to think about the fact that she was taking them through a snout instead of a nose. Everything that was happening was too much, she knew if she didn't get control over herself soon she would go into shock. She had seen her dad go into shock before, he would go all white and shaky and got lost inside of himself. He had gone into shock when Sarah's mother had left him, and when Grandma Williams had died a few years ago. Sarah had always prided herself on her ability to keep herself together in stressful times, to not let any situation get the best of her. This was no different, she told herself. Why, just yesterday, she had conquered a Labyrinth! She felt a little better as she thought about that, but she was still so scared…

Flashes of the wolf's memory ran through her mind, and Sarah lost some of her bravado. She saw her dad with the gun, heard the shot…

 _That's why my leg hurts so much!_ She thought. Looking back, she started a bit in surprise at the bloody mess all over her back leg. She knew it looked worse than it was, probably because the white fur made it stand out. She was walking well enough, a bit of a limp and more than a bit of pain, but everything was working and the bleeding had stopped.

More memories ran through her mind, this time of people pointing and yelling at her as she had ran through the street, people chasing her all around town. She looked around, noticing for the first time that several people on this little residential street were watching her through their windows. One man a few houses down was on his phone and pointing at her from an upstairs window. Sarah wasn't afraid of the supernatural, but she wasn't so naive to think that others would be accepting and helpful. There were too many scary stories involving wolves, no one would help her, she thought sadly. Even her own family had reacted in the worse possible way…

Sarah pushed the thought away, wondering absently if wolves could cry. Was she a wolf? She hadn't seen her reflection yet. She could very well be a dog, maybe a husky. But she felt like a wolf. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the persistent fog that was coming over her consciousness. She needed to hide, to lie low for a while until she could figure this out. The park was usually empty, and she could wash off the blood in the pond, she thought sleepily. She had wanted to go to the park all day, she always felt safe there. The wolf filled her mind then and took over, darting between houses and over fences in a loopy path to the park, not wanting to give away her destination. She never noticed the black cars on every block, watching her movements.

* * *

Jareth, now clad in slacks, dress shoes, and a respectable button-up shirt, stepped warily into the empty house, nerves abuzz with warning. He had never cared to familiarize himself with the day-to-day habits of humans, but he knew this was wrong. The front door of Sarah's house had been wide open, and there was blood on the floor. He bent down, touching some with his finger. It was dry, it had been here for hours. Why had no one cleaned it up? Where was Sarah and her family? He looked around the entry room for clues, but found none. The house seemed to stare back at him accusingly, the home's air heavy in his lungs. He followed the blood specks up the stairs, a terrible sense of foreboding settling in his stomach as he got closer and closer. Just as he feared, the trail ended- or started, he supposed, in Sarah's room.

The girl's room was in shambles. Furniture was overturned, books and clothes were shredded and littered the floor, pictures had fallen off the wall. Jareth stared blankly at the mess, wondering what in the seven hells was going on. His first instinct was to turn around and go look for Sarah, make sure she was all right. The blood loss was only minimal, but the state of the room and the emptiness of the house made him feel unsettled.

 _Why should I care what has happened here? She won, she left, what happens to her now is no concern of mine…_

He knew the lie as soon as he had thought it, but the reminder of yesterday's events sent a fresh wave of anger coursing through him, breaking him out of his thoughts and hardening his heart. He stepped swiftly over the broken toys and scattered books and approached the mirror portal, which was blessedly unharmed. He paused in front of the mirror, his anger ebbing as he once again took in the mayhem of the room through the mirror's reflection.

 _I should find her…_

But he did not turn around. He doubted she would want to see him again, and even if she was in some kind of trouble, what could he do without his magic? Decided, he reached forward and touched the portal, closing his eyes, waiting for the cool feeling of portal travel to envelop him.

But it did not come. He opened his eyes and glared at the mirror, putting both hands on it, spreading his fingers and feeling for the magic, then stepping back with a look of dismay. It was not there. Like the sky portal, the magic was gone, and the way was closed to him. He was trapped. Jareth's mind raced, one portal could have been a coincidence, a bizarre mistake. Two was something else entirely. He thought back to the night before, when he had been trapped in his owl form. He remembered how he had felt he had to stay close to Sarah, and how his owl-self had resented it. Whatever was going on with the portals, whatever had happened to him last night, whatever had happened here, it had something to do with Sarah. He would have to go and find her after all.

Anger welled up inside him once again, and reached a peak as he spotted the little red book on the desk. He picked it up and threw it against the wall in a rage, letting out a roar of frustration that cut through the silent house like a bolt of lightning through a cloudy sky. He glared at the book for a moment, fists clenched and breathing heavy, furious with himself for making the damn foolish thing in the first place. Had he really been so distracted by the girl that he had made himself vulnerable to attack? Whoever was behind this would pay.

After a moment, he pushed his anger aside and closed his eyes, focusing on Sarah. Sure enough, he could sense her presence nearby, maybe half a mile to the west. He let out a sigh and opened his eyes, resigned that he would have to confront her once again and somehow get her to cooperate with him so that they could figure this out and he could get back to his Kingdom. He was tired, he had gotten little sleep, and woken up in an unfamiliar part of town. After he had gotten away from his well-meaning but chatty elderly host he had spent most of the day trying to find Sarah's neighborhood, and hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day. It didn't look like he would be getting any rest any time soon, but there was no point in dwelling on it.

Before he left, he glanced back at the mirror one last time, and thought he saw something in the lower corner of it, illuminated by the light of the low sun that now sliced through the room from the window. He paused, sure that his eyes were playing tricks on him. Just to be sure, he stepped close and squinted, seeing quite clearly now the little mark through the mirror. The Goblin King's blood ran cold and he stiffened, breath catching in his throat and eyes locked on the small, dark gray, smudged triangle that was barely visible from the other side of the mirror. Magic always left a calling card, a signature that could point those who knew what they were looking for to the identity of the caster. This was a mark that he had never thought to see again.

 _No. No that's impossible…._

Without another thought he turned and raced down the stairs, running at a sprint towards the park.

* * *

He got there just after the sun had started to set over the hills, but others had already beaten him to it. He paused at the edge of the park, assessing the situation. Several black vans and cars were parked on the green near the pond, and there were a dozen men in suits standing in a group by one of them, about fifty feet away from the tree he was peering around.

Jareth's eyes narrowed when he saw what lay on the ground in their midst. A person-sized bundle lay motionless on the grass, dark hair spilling out of one end and a pair of pale bare feet poking out of the dark wool blanket on the other end. Several of the men bent over and picked her up, carrying her limp, blanket-wrapped form over to a nearby van. Jareth's mind raced as he tried to decide on a course of action. He couldn't very well just go up and take her from them, not without his magic. He was stronger than any mortal man, even without magic, but he didn't like the idea of going up against twelve armed men at once, he wasn't an idiot. No, he would need to follow them, wait for an opportunity to take her. But how? These vehicles would likely travel faster than he could run. And even if he could obtain one in time, he wouldn't know the first thing about how to operate it.

He felt a cold wash of panic as the men shut Sarah in the van and began getting into the vehicles and driving away. He started forward, not thinking, but took only a few steps before he doubled up in pain, holding his stomach. He straightened up after a few moments, and started forward again, only to stop again as another spasm seized his whole body, nearly bringing him to his knees. Bewildered, he paused and focused inwardly, trying to figure out what was wrong now. His eyes widened as realization hit him. He was changing, changing to his owl form against his will. He pushed aside his irritation and confusion as he realized that this was the answer, he could follow Sarah by air. He gave in to the transformation, shrugging out of the now tent-sized shirt and spreading his wings, taking to the sky as the sun set behind the hills.

Shortly after the line of black cars and vans got onto the northbound highway, Jareth realized that he had made a serious miscalculation. The cars were going much faster than he had thought they could, faster than he could fly. Within a few minutes, they were completely out of sight, even though he was flying as fast as possible. He wasn't so much worried about losing Sarah, somehow he knew that he couldn't be too far away from her, even if he wanted to.

No, what he was worried about was what would to him happen if she did get too far. He didn't know what exactly what had blocked his portals, forced him to change shape, and tied him to Sarah, but he could feel it now, now that he was looking for it, like an unnatural shadow around him, and it left a nervous knot in his stomach. He could feel Sarah getting further and further away with every passing second, and the he could feel the tail-end of the spell coming up behind him like a freight train. He beat his wings furiously, trying to go faster, but it was no good. He reached the end of the magical leash and let out an avian shriek as he was pulled forward, faster than should have been possible for him to go, too fast. He felt reality began to slip around him, colors changed and flashes of other worlds shot by him as he was pulled along helplessly through the inbetween. It was not a pleasant experience. Travel through the inbetween without any magic to shield him felt like being dragged through hot coals, and Jareth knew that this form wasn't strong enough to survive it for long.

Thankfully, a few minutes later, the violent pulling stopped, and Jareth was able to fly somewhat normally. He was shaken and sore, but managed to stay aloft, beating his wings wearily as he followed the darkening highway from about a hundred feet up. After a few minutes he caught up with the black cars, which had stopped at a gas station to refuel. But they were back on the road again before he could catch his breath, and soon he was falling behind again.

How he survived the night, he did not know. He was pulled through the inbetween several times before it was over, getting to rest a bit when the line of cars went through a town and had to slow down or when they pulled over for gas or rest stops. By the time the vehicles reached their destination, he was nearly delirious with pain and exhaustion, he was missing feathers and was dangerously close to losing consciousness. There was still nearly an hour before dawn, when he hoped he would be able to turn back into a man, as he had the previous day.

But it might be too late then, he realized. He could hear Sarah now with his acute barn owl hearing, kicking and screaming in the back of the van, demanding to be let go. The van and the cars drove single-file into the entrance of a large, concrete building, then a metal door shut behind them with a thud and several mechanical clangs, locking him out. Drawing on the last of his strength, he flew around the place, looking for another way in.

In the grey dishwater light of predawn, he saw that the area was a secluded compound of connected concrete buildings, ringed by a high, barbed metal fence and surrounded for miles around by an evergreen forest. The windows on the buildings were small and barred, and the whole place had a secretive and threatening aura to it. He settled in a nearby tree and was filled with a sense of hopelessness. There would be no getting in there anytime soon, he was truly stranded in this desolate place, tied here by a girl that he could not reach. He cursed himself again for his foolishness, for becoming so distracted by Sarah that he had left himself open to attack, and had put her in harm's way as well. At least he would have time to try and figure out what had happened, and possible ways of reversing it. He shivered as he remembered the mark on Sarah's mirror. He hoped desperately that that was only a coincidence.

He settled in among some dense branches, watching the compound and trying to stay awake by going over everything in his head again and again. After he rested he would try to come up with some clever plan, though he hadn't the faintest idea where to start. But right now, all there was to do now was to wait, and watch, and hope.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **In case you were worried, this is not going to be one of those 'Sarah in an institution' fics. Not that there is anything wrong with those fics, but I just don't find them very appealing. I'll touch on it a bit, but I doubt it'll be more than a few paragraphs. No, the big event next chapter will be our dynamic duo having their first, erm... 'meeting'. From now on, it will be mostly Sarah and Jareth.**

 **And don't worry about redundant OCs, I like to use random people's point of view occasionally to help tell the story, and it was kind of necessary considering that the two main characters were separated, but it is unlikely that they will be seen again. Or maybe they will and I'm just saying that to mislead you and shock you later on. Or maybe not. :-D**

 **Also, there probably won't be anymore of Sarah's family, so, if you hate Karen as much as I do, you're in luck. She has played her part.**

 **Please review!**


	3. Honey I'm Home

Chapter 3: Honey I'm Home

* * *

 _Clang._

The sound of a heavy door closing came from some distance away, but Sarah was woken up by it nonetheless, turning over on her little cot then sitting up and pulling the thin cotton cover around her shoulders for warmth. A cold lump twisted in her stomach as she stared straight ahead at the nondescript concrete wall of her room, untangling the stubborn knots of her recurring nightmares from her thoughts so that she could focus on her task. She got up, bare feet padding quietly across the hard cement floor as she crossed over to the bland wooden wardrobe. She frowned as she passed by the iron door that led to a small side room where she spent her days. It was a tiny, empty room, a gray concrete cube with a single long florescent light on one side of the ceiling. The door was shut at the moment, but Sarah could still see the little cell in her mind's eye, the gouges in the door, the scratches and bloodstains on the walls and floor from three years of frantic escape attempts by her wolf alter ego.

 _Clang._

Closer now. She pulled her thoughts from that dark place, thinking about her plan, and opened the wardrobe door, selecting a comfortable pair of jeans and a loose-fitting long sleeved blue shirt, pulling off her cotton nightgown and quickly slipping on the clothes. She pulled an oversized black hooded sweatshirt over her head and hurriedly got her shoes and socks on.

 _CLANG._

She rushed back over to her bed and grabbed the pillow, feeling frantically for the key she had hidden inside of it. She could hear steps right outside her door, and the beep-beep of the buttons being pushed on the keypad. Just in time, she pulled the small silver key out of a hole in her pillow and shoved it inside her sock.

The door opened and Sarah glanced casually at the two men who entered, sitting nonchalantly on her bed, hands folded in her lap and legs crossed, one foot bobbing up and down. The knot in her stomach gave a violent twist and tried to climb up her throat, but she swallowed it down and smiled brightly at them.

The first man, a lab technician, greeted her and told her about the ward gossip while he went about his nightly task of drawing her blood and taking her vital signs, while the second, a hulking caveman like guard, stood stoically in the doorway like a misplaced statue, hazel eyes staring at her unblinkingly. Sarah looked past him down the brightly lit hall, past the other cell doors, to the door that led to the rec room and the library, where she spent most of her time when she wasn't locked up in her room. She was anxious to try her key out on a few doors tonight.

She had found the key under a table in the library last night, and snatched it up before any of the guards noticed. She had been sitting alone, pondering her recent recurring dreams, dreams about dark stone passageways and living, hungry shadows that followed her. She was sure that the passageways were in the Labyrinth, and was so absorbed in wondering what her dreams might mean that she never even noticed the tiny goblin placing the stolen key under her table.

She was pulled violently out of her thoughts as she realized what she was looking at. There was a shadow on the ground in the hallway. The empty, well lit, hallway. She blinked and it was gone.

"-Miss Williams? Are you listening?"

Sarah looked wide-eyed at the lab tech and the guard, who were both staring at her with strange expressions.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" She asked, eyes darting to the hallway again. It was still empty, and there were no shadows. More importantly, there was nothing there to _make_ a shadow.

The tech huffed. "I said, we are all done. Now we will escort you to see the doctor." He turned to the guard and muttered, "Head in the clouds, this one."

The guard's eyebrow twitched.

"Right now?" Sarah asked in surprise. This threw a wrench in her plans. If her key was an important one like she hoped it was, it would only be a matter of time before someone noticed that it was gone and changed the lock that it belonged to. Then it would be useless to her. She had tried to escaped before, of course, but every attempt had ended in failure and several weeks of solitary confinement. She had hoped this time would be different, she _needed_ this time to be different. It was hard to explain it, but somehow, she felt like she was running out of time. She determined to do whatever it took to get out of here.

"Yeah. He is meeting with all the patients on this ward this week. He wanted to see you right after your tests tonight."

She got up and walked awkwardly past the glowering guard, wrapping her arms around herself and blocking out any thoughts of shadows that didn't exist.

 _CLANG._

The door shut behind her, and the three of them walked down the quiet hall. The key shifted in her sock and slipped down into her shoe, and the hard metal feel of it against her skin sent a little thrill up her spine.

They stopped outside of the night shift doctor's private office, and the guard knocked three times before standing back and waiting stoically. It was a nice door, a wooden door, not like all the horrid metal doors around here, and Sarah found herself missing her own front door, back at home. The thought made her ache, but she pushed it away, focusing on the feel of the key in her sock. She tried to remember if she had seen any silver locks, but her mind came up blank. The door opened, revealing a thin man in his fifties with close cut dark hair, wearing blue scrubs and a self-important expression.

"Doctor Walker, Sarah Williams to see you." The tech said, straightening and handing the doctor her chart.

"Very good. Come in, Miss Williams." Dr. Walker said in his Boston accent, eyes sweeping over her figure, pointedly ignoring the other two men.

The tech, seeing that he was dismissed, nodded awkwardly and backed away, heading back up the hall to finish his rounds. Dr. Walker made a motion with his head and the guard left as well, though with some reluctance. Sarah walked stiffly past the doctor and sat down uncomfortably in one of the leather chairs, eyes drifting around the lavishly decorated office, but avoiding the doctor.

He shut the door and sat down in the chair behind the desk, wearing a big plastic smile that did nothing to disguise the ever-present greed in his eyes.

He talked about medicines and new treatment options, droning on and on. Sarah mostly tuned him out, she knew that he only brought her here for these occasional 'talks' because he wanted to leer at her. It's not like he ever listened to what she wanted anyway, or intended to give her any say in her treatment. He refused to talk about her family, refused to talk about her future, he just like to hear himself talk. The 'patients' here were little more than lab rats to him. She barely listened, staring out of the small window and secretly reveling in her few minutes of being able to see the stars again.

She froze all of the sudden, heart beginning to race. Gazing absently at the sky, it had taken her a few minutes to realize that the window was open. Just a crack, but it was still a sight that made adrenaline rush through her veins, bringing everything around her into sharp focus. The doctor's window was one of the few that had no bars on it. She glanced back at the doctor, thinking fast.

 _Now how to get rid of him…_

Suddenly struck with an idea, Sarah held her stomach and groaned, then looked up at the doctor in horror.

Dr. Walker seemed perturbed that his monologue had been interrupted, but showed some reluctant concern for his patient, asking, "What is it?"

"Oh my god, this is so embarrassing. I, um, need some… feminine products. Right now." Sarah mumbled, looked abashed.

Dr. Walker sighed, then got up and went to the door. "I'll yell for a guard-"

"No, please, all the guards are men, it's too embarrassing. You're a doctor, don't you have anything?" Sarah asked pleadingly, using all her best acting skills to try and milk out any tiny bit of compassion he might have.

Dr. Walker hesitated for a moment, then, with a look of concern for his expensive leather chairs, nodded and sighed again. "Sit tight, I'll run down to the storeroom and be right back. I'll be locking the door behind me and won't gone more than 30 seconds, understand, young lady?" He asked sternly, patting the taser on his hip to show that he meant business.

Sarah nodded, giving him the most innocently grateful smile she could manage. As soon as the lock clicked behind him and she heard his footsteps moving down the hall, she was up and at the window, pushing it open all the way and climbing through. Hanging off the ledge, she dropped the short distance to the ground, feet landing on grass for the first time in three years. She sucked in an intoxicating breath of fresh outside air and then started along the edge of the building, trying to see in the dark. Oh, how she wished she could use her wolf-self's night vision right now, she thought.

It was a new moon and there were very few windows in the compound, so Sarah only had the stars and the faint light of the guard towers to see by. She glanced up at the nearest tower nervously as she raced along the edge of the building. Did they have guns up there? Likely. She would just have to be quick.

She came to the edge of the building and darted across the lawn to the chainlink fence. It was topped with barbed wire rolls, so climbing over was a no-go. Sirens started blaring from the speakers on the roofs of the buildings behind her. They knew she was out.

She raced along the fence, looking for a gate or some other way out, dropping to the ground and laying very still whenever the spotlights came her way. There were men coming out of the buildings now, shouting at each other over the sound of the alarms and spreading out in search of her, but she didn't think they had spotted her yet.

Sarah was starting to panic. Where were the blasted gates? She dropped to the ground as the searchlight passed by her again, and saw something white out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head slightly, her cheek brushing the damp blades of grass and fear-glazed eyes searching the dark forest on the other side of the fence.

A large bird flew down and landed on the other side of the fence, not five feet from her. It looked her right in the eye, then took off and flew a little ways away, back in the direction she had just come, and landed again, looking back at her with a soft hoot. Not even pausing to consider the strangeness of this, Sarah got up and followed the bird. It continued to fly and then land, waiting for her to catch up, then fly and land again, staying about twenty feet in front of her. After less than a minute she came to a gate, made to look like part of the fence. She must have run right past it, she thought with exasperation. The gate was fastened with a silver padlock, and Sarah felt a wild kind of hope as she pulled the key out of her sock, her breath coming in unsteady gasps.

At that moment a spotlight landed on her, and there was shouting from nearby.

"FREEZE!" A man's voice called out over the loudspeaker, and Sarah did for a moment, spinning around, fumbling the key and freezing in terror as the harsh yellow light blinded her. An urgent hooting from behind her snapped her out of it, and she bent quickly, finding the key easily in the bright light. She prayed that it would work. What if it was the key to a closet, or someone's dropped house key? But her streak of good luck hadn't run out yet, and the key slid into the lock and turned with a click right in the nick of time. Sarah flung the padlock away and pushed open the gate, fleeing into the dark woods after the bird with the guards less than thirty feet behind her.

Breathing in the summer night air in gasps, Sarah felt rejuvenated, wild. She smelled pine and earth and recent rain, and it filled her with a strength and speed that she didn't know she possessed. She ran like the wind through the dark forest, blindly following the barely visible white bird in a zigzagging path through the trees and brush, adrenaline pumping through her and her heartbeat pounding in her ears, feet moving over the dirt and leaves with a gracefulness that she didn't know she possessed. The sounds of pounding boots and shouting voices behind her became farther and farther away, and she had to suppress a triumphant 'whoop' as she jumped over a starlit creek and felt the cool night air fly through her loose hair.

She was free, free at last!

Soon, however, the lack of exercise over the last few years caught up with her, and she stopped and fell to her hands and knees on the forest floor, gasping for air and wincing at the stitch in her side. The bird landed silently nearby, trying to urge her on again, but she stayed where she was. She didn't think she could move another step. As her breathing slowed, she became aware of how dark the forest really was. She couldn't make out any of the shapes around her, in fact, there was nothing to indicate that she was in a forest at all except for the divine smell, and the shapes of tree tops visible against the starry sky above, and the feel of damp pine needles and twigs beneath her palms. She marveled that she had come so far without crashing into anything or tripping.

Sarah flopped down on her back, staring up at the stars and listening to the breeze rustle through the pine trees, and inhaling the wonderful smell of dirt and growing things and freedom, feeling ecstatic and exhausted. She could have drifted off right there, but she could still hear the guards, stamping through the underbrush, and could see their flashlights, jumping around in the distance.

The bird hooted insistently again, and Sarah glanced over at it, surprised that it was still there. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark a little more now, and she could make its pale shape sitting on the ground about ten feet away. It must be an owl, she thought, and though she couldn't see its face clearly, she got the distinct impression that it was irritated with her. The idea made her grin. She wondered, for the first time, where it had come from. Something tickled in the back of her overwrought mind, but before she could think about it anymore, a twig snapped nearby. Sarah sat up at once, alert and still, her heart in her throat. A beam of yellow light from a flashlight swept the bushes not thirty feet from where she was, and she could hear the quiet sound of people talking in hushed tones less than a hundred feet away. Slowly, carefully, she got to her feet and looked to the owl. The bird was already flying away, and Sarah followed after it again quickly, carefully, praying that she wouldn't accidentally make a noise and give away her location.

The owl led her onward through the dark, and soon they were out of earshot of the guards once again. Sarah looked back, but there was nothing, no flashlights in the distance, just the fragrant darkness of the sleeping forest. She turned and continued following the owl, too fearful to stop and rest again. After about an hour of walking in silence, they came out of the dense woods and into a clearing. Sarah looked to the east as she walked, where the sky was a dull, washed-out pink. Soon the sun would rise, and then she would change. She would be able to travel much faster on four legs, she thought, looking around. The meadow was empty, save for a small stream. All around were trees, and somehow Sarah knew that if she climbed up one of the pines and looked around, it would be wilderness as far as the eye could see in any direction. She didn't know where she was exactly, but she knew she had been brought north. Maine, maybe? If she went east, she would find the ocean, then she could follow the coast back…

Back to where? Somehow she doubted that her family would welcome her back in her current condition, or even without it. She frowned and continued on, deciding that she could work out the finer points of her long term plan later.

She crossed a shallow furrow full of smooth stones in the meadow grass and blinked, stopping and gaping. She could have sworn that the meadow was empty, but now there was a small wooden cottage not more than fifteen feet in front of her. She looked around, but the owl was nowhere to be seen. She looked back at the cottage. It was nondescript and small, probably just one room, but the door was cracked open, and a flickering light shone through the crack, suggesting that it was inhabited.

Sarah stepped forward tentatively, curiosity winning out over caution. There was a yellow tinge to the pink clouds in the eastern sky now, the sun was about to rise. She would likely only have a few minutes before she turned, and she didn't want to do it in a confined space, not _ever_ again, but she was dying to know what was in the strange cabin. She reached out a hand and pushed against the rough wood of the door, holding her breath as it swung open soundlessly, then, not seeing anyone inside, she stepped in and walked to the center of the tiny room.

The flickering light had come from a massive white five-wick candle that was set on a small wooden table cluttered with papers and books, which was against the wall opposite the door. A small bed was shoved up against the wall to her right, and a wooden chest sat at the foot of it in the corner, open and spilling its messy contents onto the floor. But what made her mouth fall open in amazement was the amulets. Dozens of them, in all shapes and sizes, hung from the rafters and from pegs in the walls. Some were intricate metal knotwork, studded with jewels and hung on gold and silver chains, others were nothing more than bits of animal bone hung on strips of leather, or cloth bags hung on corded strings. All of them gave off an unmistakable aura of magic, and the air was filled with the smell of it, dark and spicy, making the poor little cabin seem like something rich and exotic, something straight out of a fairy tale.

"Hello, Sarah." Said a rich, accented voice from behind her.

Sarah spun around and felt her heart skip a beat and a lump form in her throat as she realized, too late, why that owl had seemed familiar.

There was a small window on the left side of the cottage, and sitting in the receding shadows next to it, against the wall in the corner near the door, was no other than the Goblin King himself, every bit as handsome and strange and intimidating as she remembered. The dim light coming through the window made his long, wild hair look silvery, and made his sharp features abnormally pale. He was wearing only an amulet, similar to the one he had worn in the Labyrinth, and an open-chested gray tunic that fell to his mid-thigh. His feet and hands were bare, as if he had not yet dressed. He sat back comfortably in a plain wooden chair a few feet from the door, fiddling with something small and metallic, and regarding her with a mixture of hunger and hostility that made Sarah want to be far, far away.

"Cat got your tongue?" He quipped, giving her a brief and unkind smile, his eyes hardening even more as she gaped at him.

"Goblin King." She said in a broken whisper. "Why are you here?" Her eyes darted from him to the open door, then back to him.

He tutted. "That's all you have to say, after all this time? Rather anticlimactic, don't you think?" He regarded her with cold amusement, a smirk tugging at one corner of his lips.

She took a step towards the door, wide green eyes fixed steadily on him.

"It was you, you helped me get away." She said cautiously.

His smirk widened and he cocked his head, but said nothing.

"Thank you. I don't know if I could have escaped if you hadn't shown me the way." She gave him a curt, polite nod and started forward, only to stop and step back when he fluidly stood from the chair and placed himself between her and the door.

"Haven't you ever been warned against thanking my kind?" He said, a predatory glint in his eyes as he stared down at her. "That we might take it as a sign of… indebtedness?"

"I didn't mean it like that-" She started.

"Oh, you didn't?" He mocked. Sarah was reminded of the first time she'd met him, when he'd come in through the balcony doors on the last night of her old life. He had been cold and cruel then, too. She began to have the sinking suspicion that he hadn't helped her out of the kindness of his heart.

"I have to go." She tried to step around him, but he shifted and she bumped into his solid chest. She stepped back again and looked up at him questioningly.

"I don't think so." He said softly, face unreadable.

"You don't understand, I need to go, now!" She pushed down the tendrils of panic that were climbing up her spine and infused as much strength and confidence into her voice as possible. She visibly shivered despite herself, she could feel her skin crawling, her bones twisting...

He stepped forward again and now mere inches separated them. Sarah's eyes were drawn to the metallic thing he had been holding, seeing that it was a gold chain with an amulet similar to his on the end of it. He held it up, as if to give it to her. "Oh, I understand perfectly well. Better than you, I think."

Outside the cabin, the rising sun finally breached the distant horizon, though it was still hidden from the little meadow behind the dense treeline. Several miles away, a team of specially trained agents met in a dewy cedar grove, planning the day's hunt. Several of them glanced to the east as the golden light of the newly risen sun began to break through the trees, uneasy looks on their faces.

Inside the cabin, in the time it took to take a breath, Sarah turned into her wolf-self and Jareth pounced on her, pinning her to the ground. The pair rolled around the floor of the cabin, Sarah thrashing and trying to get away, but she was hindered by her human clothes tangling around her. Jareth was bigger and stronger than her, he held her from behind and put all his weight on top of her so that she couldn't move. He managed to get the chain around her neck, where the amulet glowed and then disappeared, sinking beneath her white fur. She yelped at the burning feeling of it, and twisted violently, sinking her teeth into the Goblin King's arm. He roared and rolled away from her, giving her the chance she needed. Not looking back, Sarah took off out the open door, tearing across the meadow and into the woods.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **Well. That went well.**

 **Sorry updates haven't been super frequent, some genius got it into her head that being self employed would be a good idea, and I now spend my days trying to out-maneuver a malicious stack of semi-sentient paperwork that is intent upon crushing my soul (or at very least my skull). I write when I can, and I thank you for your support and understanding.**

 **Please leave a contribution in the little box!**


	4. Any Port In a Storm

Chapter 4: Any Port In a Storm

* * *

Jareth moved through the forest with the stealth and agility of a predatory cat, long, wild hair tied back and leather moccasin-style shoes moving soundlessly over the ground. He was silent and focused, sharp eyes picking up the smallest sign that he was on the right track. Broken twigs, a paw print in the mud, a bit of white fur on a bush, all signs that Sarah had come this way recently.

After she fled, he had bandaged his arm, dressed quickly, called the three goblins remaining to him and started out after her; he had just now gotten a hold of her again after all this time and he didn't intend to let her slip away so easily. Luckily for him, Sarah didn't seem to have any skill in evasive techniques whatsoever; she blundered through the forest like a bear that had eaten too many fermented berries, leaving an easy trail for him to follow. Much to his frustration however, no matter how fast he moved, he couldn't seem to get any closer to her.

To make matters worse, he was not the only one hunting her. Jareth could hear the occasional radio communication from the endless surrounding forest, and had even caught a brief glimpse or two of a camouflage jacket, or the metallic glint of a firearm in the distant undergrowth. There was a much larger and more organized team of men in the forest today, all with the intent to capture Sarah and bring her back to the compound, and if not that, then at least to make sure she didn't escape. Surely the foolish girl must sense them, he thought, and yet she had run right towards them and had spent the last hour leading him in wide circles right through their midst, like some demented, childish game of tag.

It occurred to him that perhaps she could sense that he was close, in the same way that he could sense her and how far away she was from him. She might just be trying to get away from him at any cost, his presence behind her driving her forward blindly. Maybe he had been too aggressive, had frightened her into a panic. Or maybe, he thought with a rueful grin, she had led him here deliberately to try to shake him, a move as bold as it was dangerous. It would be more like her to do something like that than to run scared, he thought. He ducked behind a tree as a pair of men came over a hill, making their way stealthily northwest, passing by about a hundred feet from where he stood hidden.

She was going to get herself captured, or worse. If only there was some way to draw her towards him…

He grinned again as an idea struck him. As soon as the men were out of sight and earshot, he called his rag-tag but resourceful goblin trio and set them a task, then he started off again, back in the direction of the cabin.

* * *

When Sarah was little, her mother had enrolled her in a gymnastics class at the local gym. It had been a special thing that they did together once a week, the little girls would tumble and chatter, and the mothers would sip coffee and gossip nearby. Afterwards, Sarah and her mother would go out for ice cream and share what they had learned with each other; Linda would tell her daughter all about whatever scandalous thing her friends' mothers or fathers were doing, and Sarah would proudly relay whatever interesting little bits of information she had gleaned from the other little girls, as well as all-important updates about who liked whom, and who was going to whose birthday party, and who had the newest shoes. It had been a delicious female experience for the both of them. After Sarah's mother had left, Sarah had continued with gymnastics, but it became a different sort of thing for her. Without her glamorous mother nearby to encourage her and give her status, Sarah drifted away from the social circles, and became more focused on the physical aspects of the sport. She worked to become the best, the most agile and athletic of the girls. She became a sort of leader of the pack, so to speak, set apart from the others socially, but recognized by them as talented and superior.

Now, she tumbled through the woods with all the grace of a toddler wearing their father's suit. Thanks to the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, she had managed to keep up a decent speed, but the sleeves of her sweatshirt were too long for her front legs now, and the front of it hung down to the ground so that her back feet got caught on it when she tried to leap over something. More than once, she had wanted to rip of the sweatshirt so that she could move more freely, but without thumbs, there was no way to do so without taking the shirt underneath off as well, leaving her exposed when night came. She had no idea what had happened to her shoes and pants and underwear, she probably lost them when she first fled the cabin. The sweatshirt had to stay, otherwise she would freeze tonight. Still, as she once again tripped and crashed headlong into the ground, she wished she had at least had the foresight to roll up her sleeves.

As she picked herself up and paused to listen, trying to hear if any of the men moving around in the nearby forest had heard her crash, she noticed something unexpected. Since this morning, the looming presence of the Goblin King had followed her, pursuing her wherever she went, but now it was diminishing, as if he was moving away from her. She didn't know what to make of that, but she supposed it was a good thing. Maybe he had decided that she wasn't worth the effort after all.

At that very moment, what was unmistakably a small goblin with a large, bald, football shaped head popped out of a bush directly in front of her, a pointy yellow smile on its wide, warty, gray face. It smiled up at her.

"Hi, Wolf!" it said happily and with perfect familiarity, voice high-pitched and scratchy.

"No, hi _Lady_ ," corrected a second goblin in a similar sounding voice. This one had suddenly appeared behind her, making her spin and back up so that she could keep them both in sight. This one was dirt brown and had a shock of straight white hair on its head that stuck out in all directions, though its black beady eyes and big yellow smile were the same as the first goblin's.

"We's been waiting for you." chimed in a third, which also appeared behind her. The others made happy sounds of agreement. This third goblin, like the others, was also shaped like a large decomposing lemon with a tiny body underneath, but its nose was longer and pointier, and its white hair was shorter and curly. Sarah turned constantly, trying to keep an eye on all of them at once, but they had formed a small triangle around her, so she had to keep turning and could only see two at a time. They were small, and seemed non-threatening, but after the craziness that had just happened with the Goblin King, her nerves were frayed and she wasn't taking any chances.

"Come with us, Lady," said the second, the brown one, in a voice like a merchandiser offering free samples of a bad product that he has to convince others is a good buy in order to save his job.

"Yes, yes!" the third interrupted excitedly.

"-we help you get away!" the brown one continued.

 _Not a chance._ Sarah thought. She had gotten this far on her own, she was doing okay. She wasn't desperate enough to accept the help of strange goblins who were probably up to no good.

"But you have too!" said the first one, the gray one, from right next to her left shoulder, his voice reminding her of an electric pencil sharpener full of gravel. She started and jumped back. He was holding the bottom half of her left sleeve, which he had somehow detached from the rest of the sweatshirt without her noticing.

"Otherwise they catch you," said the brown one in a voice like a bag of rocks being dragged over cement. He (or she? Sarah couldn't tell) was working on the other sleeve with his long sharp claws, much to her surprise.

 _What are you doing!_ Sarah thought, backing away at the same time that he finished, leaving the sleeve cut off a few inches above her paws. It now matched the other side.

"Helping you. You said you wished the sleeves were out of the way," the first one said. He was now wearing the muddy bottom half of her sleeve around his scrawny neck like a scarf.

 _I didn't say anything, I- wait, can you hear my thoughts!?_

"Only the loud ones." pointy-nosed goblin replied matter-of-factly in a nasally, rattling voice.

Suddenly there was a whooshing sound, and the second goblin dove in front of Sarah. He fell to the ground and bounced a few times. There was a tranquilizer dart sticking out of his forehead.

"Aiiieeeee!" shrieked the other two, as they moved forward with freakish speed and pounced on the man that had snuck up on them and was hiding behind a nearby tree.

"What the hell-" the man hollered, as he fell to the ground. His radio went flying and shattered on a nearby rock.

The brown goblin staggered a bit, then pulled the dart out of his head and joined the others, crawling all over the unfortunate agent, biting and scratching as the poor man yelled for help and tried to beat the little creatures off with his gun.

"Run, Lady!" one of them yelled, and Sarah didn't need to be told twice. She turned and took off in the opposite direction. She could run much faster now, and within minutes the goblins and the men were far behind her.

The sun-dappled trees blurred together as she flew through the woods, darting this way and that as she made her way west, paws padding lightly against the cushiony forest floor, white fur gleaming in the afternoon sun where her sweatshirt didn't cover her. Her earlier fatigue was gone now, this form was stronger and built for endurance. She inhaled the smells around her deeply as she ran, trying to get used to this new, powerful sense of smell that she had never really had a chance to explore while locked up in the compound. She could smell the trees and the soil, the mossy creeks that striped the woods, a hint of a coming storm. She could smell the various animals that inhabited the forest, and the dozens of sweaty men still hunting her, the sharp, acrid smell of gunpowder, and strange smells that she couldn't quite identify. She was getting further and further away from the hunters, soon she would be safe…

She yelped as she crashed into something unseen and was sent flying backwards with a shock. Getting to her feet quickly, she looked around in surprise, but... there was nothing there. The forest was suddenly too quiet, as if it was waiting for something. Sarah strained her senses, but could detect nothing threatening. The woods around her were disturbingly empty.

She went forward again, cautiously, but was once again pushed back by what felt like an invisible wall, though not so violently this time. She tried again, even more slowly, raising a front paw and feeling the air in front of her. It felt as if the air had condensed to form a barrier, one with an unpleasant electric feeling to it that repelled her. She huffed in dismay, and started off in a different direction, following the invisible wall blindly, trying to find a way through or around it. She was unable, even worse she was now sure that the mysterious wall was moving forward, forcing her back the way she had come. Back to her pursuers.

Focused on the wall as she was, it took her a while to notice the shadow. It moved along behind her on the other side of the barrier, independent of any object that might have cast it, sliding along across the pine needles and over rocks and twigs, leaving a path of dead foliage in its wake. She sped up, but the shadow sped up as well. She turned away from the wall, but the shadow just went through it as if it wasn't there and continued to follow her. She was running full out now, but the menacing shadow was still behind her, trailing her. Finally she stopped and turned around to face it, but in its place there was now a large, sleek, black swan.

She wondered briefly if it was the Goblin King in a different form, but dismissed the idea; she could still feel his presence somewhat, but it was distant. Not twenty feet in front of her. She watched the swan, waiting for it to do something, but it just stood and stared at her with sad, intelligent eyes.

 _Who are you?_ she thought.

"There she is, there she is!"

The voice shattered the unnatural silence and made her start and spin around. Jumping and rolling and darting through the brush towards her were the same three goblins from earlier, all wearing the same disturbing yellow smiles on their faces. Sarah looked back, but the swan was gone. In fact, there was nothing to show that anything had been there at all, except a spot of dead grass.

"Now you come with us Lady?" the brown goblin asked.

Sarah turned her attention back to the goblins.

 _Not if you are planning on taking me to your King,_ she tried thinking at them, hoping they would hear.

"We not!" said the first one, the bald grey one, with a look of carefully manufactured innocence.

"We just take you to his house." pointy-nosed goblin said happily. The other two smacked him on the back of the head.

"-But he not at home! Not for a long while." the brown goblin added hastily. Grey goblin nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, he said to tell you so- owww!" pointy-nosed goblin started cheerfully again, only to be smacked even harder by the other two.

 _I am not going anywhere with you three._

"But we keep you safe!"

"Bad men want to catch you, lock you up again!"

"Them can't find you in the house. No one crosses the line, not unless them's name's on the rocks."

"Wolf can't run forever." the grey goblin said pointedly.

Sarah mulled this over. She believed that the goblins were sincere about helping her, they had saved her from being captured earlier, after all. She also knew they were right, the woods were crawling with men, and a helicopter had begun passing overhead. It would seem that she had to choose her poison, and of the two evils, the Goblin King was the only one she had beaten before.

 _You're sure he won't be there?_

She knew it was probably some kind of trick, but if they were right in saying that no one could find it, then it would be safer than wandering the woods. Something was keeping her from getting away, and until she figured that out, she needed a place to hide. She'd rather deal with one Goblin King than a small army of government agents.

"Oh, yes! He said he stay away for long time." pointy-nosed goblin said joyfully, then flinched, but the others didn't hit him this time.

 _What about the amulet? What do you know about that?_

"What you talkin' about?" the grey goblin asked.

 _He put an amulet on me, it burned…_

From their blank looks she could see that they weren't going to be any help on that matter.

 _Fine. Let's just go._

That brought their grins back, and they turned and took off through the forest with Sarah running hesitantly along behind. Less than ten minutes later, they came to the clearing. Sarah stopped, suddenly having second thoughts. The goblins stopped as well and turned to give her questioning looks.

Her eyes swept the meadow carefully, but it looked just as empty as it had before. The sun was low and slanting through the treeline now, and the tips of the meadow grass burned with golden fire, flickering as it moved in lazy waves in the late summer breeze. She could just barely make out the furrow that ran in a rough circle marking where the cabin was, like a long shadowy smudge dividing the gilded grasses.

The sound of a helicopter behind her got her moving again. She walked down the hill towards where the cabin was, the goblins falling behind her. As she came to the furrow that apparently bordered the cabin, she noticed that it was indeed full of smooth stones, each carved with strange markings. Was her name really on one of them? And if so, why? She had so many questions, and it seemed that there was only one person who could answer them all, the one person she didn't want to see again. She focused on that feeling inside of her that told her how close he was. Nearer than he had been, but still at a good distance. She would have time to leave if he started to approach.

With that in mind, she jumped over the furrow and the cabin appeared before her, instantly materializing into undeniable reality.

"Bye now!" one of the goblins called out behind her, and she turned around in surprise to find them all running off in different directions.

 _Hey, wait! Where are you going? Come back!_ she thought frantically, but all she got in response were cackles and manic giggles from the retreating goblins before they disappeared into the trees.

She thought about going after them, but decided that there really was no point in it. Turning back to the cabin, she approached carefully, pushing the door open with her shoulder. The huge candle was still lit, casting a dim, shifting orange glow around the tiny room. A careful inspection revealed that this time she was definitely alone. The many charms and medallions that hung from the walls and ceiling seemed to disagree, twinkling and swinging rhythmically even though there was no breeze. The air was tangy and electric, and she was aware that all around her there were whispers just on the edge of her hearing. The amulet under her skin tingled in response, making her shrug uncomfortably.

There was a plate on the table with some bread and meat, and she helped herself, trying to be as neat as possible, even though she was famished. The rest of the table was cluttered with maps and books, most of which seemed to be in some language that looked similar to English, but wasn't. The maps, however, showed that she had been right about where she had guessed her location to be. There was a penciled X near the northern coast of Maine, and another X near the middle part of Canada, close to the border. Several smudged pencil lines had been drawn between the two, and various notes were scribbled all over the map, but Sarah couldn't make out what they said. There were also several year-long calendars with most of the days checked off, the most recent one had all the days until mid-august checked off, and was otherwise blank except for some dense scribbling near the end of October. Sarah noted with mild interest that a solar eclipse was coming up soon.

She studied all of it for a bit longer, so focused that she barely noticed how dark the cabin had gotten until the pain hit her, the beginning of sunset twisting her back into human shape before she registered what was happening. She frantically looked around again, using the edge of the table to support herself while she caught her breath, but the room was still empty, thankfully. Crickets had begun to chirp outside, and the night air drifting through the window now carried the sweet, dewy smells of the coming night that mixed wonderfully with the spicy, magical smell of the cabin, helping her to relax. He was still far away. She was safe, and would soon be free, she told herself, fighting for calm. Once her heart rate had slowed again, all that Sarah had been through in the last night and day finally caught up with her, and she was overcome with an exhaustion that cried out from her very bones, dragging her eyelids down and making her legs weak. She yawned and shivered, wishing she had something to cover her bare legs. Her gaze drifted towards the bed, and its cozy looking blanket. Surely it wouldn't hurt to take a short nap, she reasoned. A bit of rest would clear her mind and make it easier to figure out what to do next. Her feet carried her to the little bed and she crawled in, falling asleep almost immediately.

She woke a few hours later due to something poking her in the chest. The candle had gone out, and the air had become chilled and still. She sat up groggily and fumbled in the dark, and feeling the hard shape of the pendant under her sweatshirt, she pulled it out and off, holding it in front of her and examining it in the dim starlight that came through the window. She couldn't be sure without adequate light, but she thought that it looked very much like the one that the Goblin King had worn in the Labyrinth, and also like the one he had been wearing the previous morning. It was a peculiar curved triangle shape with a goblin face carved in the middle, flat, metallic, and about the size of an orange, fixed on the end of a golden chain. It was unnaturally warm in her palm and seemed to buzz in a way that she could feel more in her mind than in her hand, she got the feeling that it was unhappy about being removed and wanted her to know it. She puzzled for a moment on why the Goblin King had been so determined to get it on her, as far as she could tell, it didn't _do_ anything.

A movement out of the corner of her eye made her stiffen and hold her breath, a slight shifting of the shadows in the window, a ruffling sound. She slowly turned her head to the window, staring with wide eyes into the dark, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Hello?" she whispered, flinching at how tiny and frightened her voice sounded.

"Hello?" she said again, voice strong and demanding this time.

There was no answer. The shadows shifted slightly, and Sarah suddenly had the unmistakable impression of being watched. Her eyes finished adjusting to the dark, and she could now just make out the pale shape in the darkness, unseen eyes boring into hers from where he sat on the window ledge.

"What are you doing here? What do you want with me?" she demanded.

No answer. She suddenly felt foolish for expecting one. Maybe the mind-speaking only worked with goblins?

"I don't know what you're up to, Goblin King, but I don't want any part of it. Please leave me alone." she said, figuring he could still understand her, even if he couldn't say anything back. Why was he just sitting there? Impulsively, frustratedly, she hurled the amulet across the room so that it struck the wall just under the window where he was perched. She had thought to throw it directly at him, but decided last minute that that might not be a good idea.

 _Put it back on._

The voice flowed through her mind like warm, spiced honey wine; bewitching and soothing.

"No! I don't even know what it does."

 _It keeps you in your right mind. Really, a clever girl like you should have figured it out on her own._

The cloying voice now had a discernible mocking quality to it.

Sarah realized that she _had_ in fact been in her own mind all day; normally the wolf took over while she was in that form, but not once had that happened. Did that mean he had been trying to _help_ her?

"Only if you promise to leave me alone."

 _No._

"Then I won't wear it." she was bluffing. It was too valuable to give up, but she wanted to try and find out why he was here, and what he was up to, and why her wearing it was so important to him.

 _You won't last long without it. An animal's mind is easier to deceive than a person's. Something your friends out there are well aware of. The woods are full of traps._

"I'm sure I'll figure something out." she said primly.

 _Don't defy me!_

"I will! My entire life has gone completely mad, and if you're not willing or able to tell me why, then you can just go! You have no pow-"

 _Calm down, calm down. You'll have your answers._

Sarah blinked in surprise, her built up emotions suddenly deflating. "I will?"

There was a long, exasperation-drenched pause in her mind. Finally he spoke again, and now his voice felt quiet and reflective, as if he was speaking to himself.

 _I am here for the same reason you are._

Sarah leaned forward.

"And what reason is that?"

 _To be free._

She paused at this, putting the pieces together in her head.

"You're stuck as an owl right now, aren't you?" her voice was softer now, filled with compassion. She flinched as her mind was filled with his voice again, changed now from soft and gentle to scornful and cold.

 _Do not think me weak, Sarah. You would do well to fear me, even now._

"That's not what I meant, I…" she sighed. "-nevermind. How did this happen anyway?"

 _While you ran the Labyrinth, or shortly after, someone took advantage of my distraction and placed this curse upon us. We are bound together, and I am unable to access my magic._

She processed this quickly. "Oh. Is that what that barrier was? and how I could tell where you were?"

He said nothing, but she felt his affirmation.

"Who did this? Why?"

 _I am not certain._

"Can it be reversed?"

 _There are ways._

She waited for him to explain, but the silence stretched on, and seemed to grow harder and less accessible. "Such as?"

 _You have been through much. Put on the amulet and get some rest. We will speak more in the morning._

Sarah was ready to argue, but decided that the possibility of getting some more answers was worth a little humility. She got up and fumbled in the dark for the amulet, pointedly not looking at him. Her hand finally closed around it, and then she shuffled back to the bed with as much dignity as she could muster, resisting the urge to run and jump into the bed and pull the cover over her head. She slipped the amulet on and lay on her side under the blanket, watching the pale shape in the window with wary eyes. He just sat there, silent, motionless. She was determined to stay awake and keep an eye on her unpredictable, enigmatic companion, but after a while she began to feel comfortable and warm again, and before she knew it she had drifted off despite herself.

She dreamed of shadows and windowless cells, and an unseen voice that whispered lullabies and laments.

* * *

Under the damp grey eaves of dilapidated slate roofs, the shadows seemed to deepen and lengthen, as if trying to conspiratorially hide the band of misfits sneaking along through the morning quiet. The guilty trio were well aware of their danger; there was a strict curfew in place in the Goblin City, one that they were most certainly breaking. Those who earned the displeasure of the king and fell into his grasp were often never heard from again. If they were, they were changed, much in the way that a delicate snowflake is forever destroyed when clenched tightly in an unforgiving fist.

Luckily, Hoggle the dwarf was no snowflake.

A coward he may he, but a sturdy one, and a conniving one as well. Not long after the Usurper had come, he had joined forces with the other champion-friends, and attempted to stage a resistance. That had been a disaster, and after what had happened to Ludo, they had all but given up hope. That was, until they had heard about the trio of goblins that had been on the wrong side when the portals had been closed. One of the older goblins had a special looking-glass that was used for communicating with them, and by this way he and others had learned of the Goblin King's survival, and of Sarah's imprisonment. The Old Goblin's house was where they were heading now, as the signal had been given for a meeting.

Hoggle stepped back and let Sir Didymus and Ambrosius approach the small wooden door first, knocking the secret knock that would gain them admittance. They were quickly ushered into a dark, cobwebby hallway by a goblin that resembled a moldy forty pound raisin, one of the Old One's offspring. He muttered and grumbled and nearly shut the door on Ambrosius's tail, before pushing them roughly into the back room. About a dozen others were gathered together there around a musty old armchair, several of the smarter goblins, a few bag ladies, the worm and his wife (who sat on the high back of the chair) and the Wise Man's hat, who had taken to riding around on a tiny mute goblin named Todd since the disappearance of his former companion. They were the members of a secret faction, and they called themselves the Brothers United against Terrible Tyranny, or 'B.U.T.T.' for short.

The Old Goblin, whose true name had been forgotten centuries ago, was the head of B.U.T.T.

He was the only one left that was in possession of a device for communicating with the Above, as the Usurper had confiscated almost all the other magical items in the kingdom. Hoggle and the others gathered round him, all of them uncharacteristically quiet and still as they waited for him to speak. He sat motionless in his moth-eaten chair, eyes closed in deep thought, slow breaths sending little swirls of dust in and out of the flickering candlelight.

After a few minutes, Hoggle and the others realized that he was asleep.

"Oh dear, what shall we do, brother?" Sir Didymus whispered to the dwarf.

Hoggle shrugged. "We're gonna have to wake him up. This needs to be quick, I don't wanna be out when rounds begin."

A few others shuddered in sympathy, then dropped their jaws in surprise when Hoggle began slapping the head of B.U.T.T.'s cheek with a grubby palm.

"Wake up, you old fart!" he demanded.

The Old One woke with a snort and a gurgle and sat up straight, glaring at the all the persons surrounding him.

"Oo are yeh, and what're yeh doin' in me house!" he cried.

"You invited us, sir, so that we may share in whatsoever news you may have acquired," Sir Didymus replied helpfully, while Hoggle rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, tapping his foot impatiently.

The Old One turned to the bowing fox-knight, ready to rebuke him, but then paused for a long moment, his deeply-wrinkled face strained with the effort of thought.

"Hrmmm, I did, didn't I?" he cackled with a toothless grin, eyes lighting up as he finally remembered what was going on, much to everyone's relief. He then bent forward with surprising agility, retrieving from under his armchair a highly-polished silver bedpan, which he set upon his lap. It was no ordinary bedpan, but an enchanted one, bewitched many eons ago by some upstart magician with an inappropriate sense of humor and a clever enough mind to recognize the inconspicuous nature of the item. All sixteen of them huddled close, peering into its reflective surface, where two lemon-shaped goblin heads peered back at them with toothy grins.

"Abba-groob, Babba-wock, what have yeh got ta report, me boys?" the Old One demanded briskly, tucking his spindly legs up under the bedpan and leaning forward, watery eyes squinting and long nose nearly touching the metal surface.

"Lady got out!" the brown one blurted happily, the grey one nodding eagerly beside him.

Everyone cheered briefly, then broke out in whispers after the Old One shushed them.

"-They did it!-"

"-Thank goodness, they was nearly out of time,-"

"-maybe King come back now?-"

"-Woo woo!-"

"-verily, my Lady is not one to be falsely detained-"

"Well, is she okay? Is Sarah alright?" Hoggle demanded of the bedpan goblins, and everyone fell silent to hear their response.

"Well-" started the grey one, known as Abba-groob, "-first 'is Majesty brought her to the cabin, but when he jumped on her and she bit 'im and ran away."

The little room was perfectly silent.

"What?" Hoggle asked worriedly.

"Brother Hoggle," Sir Didymus whispered discreetly in his ear, "perhaps it is best if the exact circumstances are not divulged publicly-"

"-'Cause she's a wolf," Babba-wock added.

"Like how 'is Majesty's an owl." Abba-groob said.

Everyone said, "Ohhhh."

"But we got 'er to come back, and now she's in the house, and 'er and 'is Majesty talked nice and everything. Well, sorta." Babba-wock said, picking something that looked suspiciously like denim out of his teeth.

"Lood's guarding 'er now, while 'is Majesty flies." Abba-groob said.

"Are they going to try to come back to the Labyrinth soon?" one of the small goblins in the room asked.

"That's 'is Majesty's plan." Babba-wock said.

"How can we be of aide? Does his Majesty have any orders?" Sir Didymus asked urgently.

"Yes. You're all to be 'good little subjects to the dark king, and to be nice and friendly to 'is gargoyles,' that's what the King said." Babba-wock replied.

Everyone gaped in shock and consternation.

"But, that can't be right, what about the resistance-" Hoggle started.

Babba-wock spoke over him. "He wants peoples on the inside, should he need 'em,"

The Old One gave a slow, creaky nod, looking about the room at all the fretful faces. "We shall do all we can to aide 'is Majesty, and 'is Lady."

Everyone nodded gravely, and began preparing themselves to go up to the castle beyond the goblin city.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **I didn't initially intend to have goblins in the story, they just sort of happened. I guess with all the drama and angst, some comic relief was needed, and after all I can't very well depend on a naked Jareth to do the job every time things get too tense. That would detract from the seriousness of the plotline. Ahem.**

 **Speaking of Jareth, I'd love some feedback on his character. In all my other stories, he is pretty much just written as a roguishly handsome royal trickster, but here I'm trying to make him a little sharper around the edges, more prickly and morally grey but not crossing the line to where he would be considered evil or unlikeable. Success?**

 **Please review! I crave reviews like a puppy craves bacon. Don't deprive me of my bacon! Let the bacon rain down!**


	5. An Uneasy Alliance

**AN: I don't normally do this 'cause it takes up so much room, but there were a few people I was unable to respond to privately, so here ya go:**

 **guest: Thank you :-)**

 **Kieira: Be careful not to break your neck.**

 **rc: You are all the awesomeness. I want to give** _ **you**_ **bacon now!**

 **GoodJoss: nom nom nom. Yes, I am happy now, and still completely shameless.**

 **Guest: …**

 **comical freaka: Thank you mucho! I'm glad you got a kick out of B.U.T.T**

 **tmwilson3: Thank you! I didn't originally intend to have goblins in the story, but I apparently forgot to tell them that. I'm happy to hear that Jareth is coming across the way I wanted.**

 **Zayide: Answers are a comin'! Eventually! Yes, I think we will see him nearing that line… and waltzing all over it.**

 **crimsoneyes419: Thanks for giving it a shot!**

 **I love it when the comments section starts getting interesting. Authors need entertainment too, you know. Please read and review!**

* * *

Chapter 5: An Uneasy Alliance

* * *

The sounds of crickets had been replaced with birdsong, loud and desperate, as the summer waned and the chance for creatures to find a mate rapidly came to a close. Sarah awoke with the events of the last day fresh in her mind, but did not immediately get up, or open her eyes. She felt for the Goblin King with her mind, and knew that he was nearby, but not too close. Her eyelids cracked open, and she saw that it was still dark, the sky outside the rough-hewn window was something between black and blue, a kind of beauty-less dark gray. There was probably less than a half hour left until dawn, she estimated, sitting up on the tiny, cold bed and rubbing her eyes.

This escape attempt had taken an unexpected turn; she had certainly not expected the King of the Goblins to show up and forcefully involve himself in all of this. In the years she had been kept prisoner, she had thought more than once about calling on him for aid, but her sense of pride, as well as her wariness of whatever price he might demand, had always held her back. Always she had felt him in her subconscious, although she had believed said feeling to be more metaphorical in nature rather than a literal, physical presence. Had he really been out here the whole time? If what he had told her in the night was true, he hadn't had much of a choice. She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

She got up, the chill of the floor seeping through her soles and up her legs and making her shiver, and tiptoed to the door, stepping outside into the gloom and peering both hopefully and reluctantly into the darkness, looking for a flash of white. She thought she saw something move in the still blackness of the trees at the edge of the meadow, and stepped forward thoughtlessly, trying to make out its shape.

"Don't do that. You gotta stay." said a scratchy high pitched voice from the ground in front of her.

Looking down and squinting, Sarah could just make out one of the goblins from yesterday. It was the third one, the one with curly white hair and a long pointy nose. Its black beady eyes scowled up at her from an oversized head that just reached her knee.

"Hello, what's your name?" she asked kindly.

The goblin blinked. "I Lood. You gotta stay." he repeated, in a nasally, rattling voice.

Sarah turned her attention back to where she had seen the dark shape, but if there had been something there, it was gone now. Lood turned and followed her line of sight.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing, I guess." she returned her gaze to him. "Do you plan on trying stop me from leaving, if I decide to?"

Lood suddenly looked very uncomfortable. After a few awkward moments of darting eyes and shuffling feet, Sarah took pity on him and changed the subject.

"So, where's the Goblin King?"

 _Where indeed?_

Said a smooth, deep voice that flowed through her mind like warm milk. She turned around and spotted him up on the cabin's roof, staring down at her imperiously. His gaze turned momentarily to Lood, who promptly disappeared with a snap, then his sharp gaze fixed back on her.

 _Good morning, princess. Your pants are over there._

Sarah blushed furiously, pulling the hem of her sweatshirt down to cover more of her legs. She looked to where he had nodded and saw her jeans folded up and set against the side of the cabin. She snatched them, and her shoes and underwear that had been underneath them, and darted back into the house. After dressing quickly and gathering her thoughts, she took a deep breath and stepped back outside. He still perched on the roof, surveying the surrounding predawn world, pointedly looking everywhere but at her.

"Hello, Goblin King." she said in the most dignified voice she could muster.

He turned his gaze down to her.

 _I hope you are well rested. We have a long journey ahead of us._

"Sorry?"

 _You asked about the undoing of this curse. We shall travel together, to a place where answers, and perhaps solutions, may be found._

"I haven't agreed to go anywhere." she folded her arms over her chest and stared back at him defiantly.

 _Don't be difficult._

"All I'm asking for is a little straightforwardness on your part."

 _Expectations, expectations. Do you wish to be rid of this spell, or not?_

Sarah suddenly remembered the maps on the table inside the cabin. She hurried in and began to reexamine them, deciding it would probably be easier to find answers for herself. The goblin king flew down and settled in the window to observe.

As before, there was a small X in what looked like Maine, which she was sure was where they were now, and another in the middle of Canada, near the border, by a place called Moose Jaw.

"What's so special about Moose Jaw?" she wondered aloud.

 _There is a door there that can't be closed. Several of them exist in this world, but that one is the closest. All other doors have been closed to me, so that is where we must go._

She furrowed her brow as she examined the map. "A door to where?"

"The Underground. Near the Labyrinth, specifically."

It took Sarah a moment to realize that his voice was now audible, rather than in her head. She stiffened and turned slowly. He stood in front of the window less than six feet away, wearing the same embroidered, fitted, long grey tunic from yesterday, and nothing else, save his amulet. The first lights of dawn cut through the trees and illuminated his wild, fair hair, but left his face in shadow, except for his eyes, which seemed to have a faint glow in them as he watched her. He looked like something inhuman and dangerous, which, she acknowledged, he was. Now that the shock of his being here had worn off a bit, she was able to admire his feral, masculine beauty. She bit her lower lip and stared back with wide eyes.

He frowned at her reaction, mistaking it for fear. "You believe I would hurt you?"

"You did yesterday." she took a step back, eyes locked on his.

His frown deepened at this. "If I had not made you wear the amulet, you would have been recaptured. Besides, I believe I suffered more from the encounter than you." He gave her a rueful smirk and held up his arm in the light, so that she could see the angry red bite marks that were only just beginning to heal.

Sarah blushed.

"If all you meant was to help me, then why didn't you just tell me what it did and ask me to wear it?" she asked, fingering the amulet on her chest.

"You might have refused." he said simply, taking a step forward.

"I might have accepted." she countered, taking another step back.

He regarded her impatiently. "Will you or will you not come with me willingly?"

The truth of the matter was, she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. She wanted to believe him, but years of mistreatment at the hands of others had made her mistrustful and suspicious. A small, nagging, fear-driven part of her mind whispered that he could be responsible for all of this, that he might be feeding her lies to try and trick her into going back to the Underground. She mostly believed that he was telling the truth, but she wasn't ready to openly put her faith in him, or anyone else, for that matter.

"I don't know yet." she replied honestly.

In two swift steps he was mere inches in front of her, and her breath caught in her throat. She was overwhelmed with the earthy, masculine smell of him, and conscious of the table at her back, keeping her from moving away further. He loomed over her and the air crackled with tension, making her heart race and her throat dry. His uneven blue eyes were intense and fixed on hers. She would have thought he meant to kiss her, if not for the angry scowl on his face.

"You don't have a choice. If I go, you go." he said in a soft, clipped whisper-voice.

"That's not true. You said yourself, you don't have your magic. You can't make me go anywhere that I don't want to go. My will is as strong as yours, remember?" she held his gaze, spine straight and fists balled up at her side, voice low and firm.

His eyes sparkled with fury, but he kept his voice even. "There is not much time left, Sarah. The thirteenth season is well underway, after which the curse will be irrevocable." His eyes softened and his voice took on an imploring tone. "You must agree to come with me, for both our sakes, and for the sake of the Labyrinth."

"The Labyrinth is in danger?" Sarah asked in surprise.

Jareth saw her concern and seized on it. "Yes, and your companions who still reside there. But I cannot return while I am bound here by _you_." he spat the last word, showing real anger for the first time.

Sarah made up her mind quickly and sidestepped him, making her way to the door in three long strides, then stopped in the doorway and turned back to him with a determined look on her face. "Promise me that you will send me home as soon as you are able, and I'll agree to come with you, and help in anyway I can. Otherwise, you're on your own."

He regarded her carefully. "You have my word. When I am able, I will return you to your home, upon request."

As he spoke, the sun rose fully, breaking with the tree-obscured horizon and sending more golden beams spearing into the cabin, where they glittered warmly against all the amulets and medallions hanging from the rough beams and the unfinished wooden wall opposite the window. The air shivered with magic and Sarah fell to her knees, closing her eyes and holding in a cry of pain as her bones and muscles twisted and shrunk, and her teeth and ears grew, and fur forced itself through her skin. When she opened her eyes again and looked up, now as a wolf, the Goblin King was still standing in the same place by the table, staring at her with an unreadable expression.

 _When do we leave?_ she asked.

He glanced at the sky. "In a few hours. I'll need to pack."

By midmorning the sky had darkened and fat raindrops had begun to fall. Sarah sat outside, enjoying the feel and smell of the rain. It had been several years since she had last experienced being under an open sky like this and she relished it, despite the chill. The goblin king moved noisily about inside the cabin, preparing for their departure.

She sensed a stillness behind her and turned to look. Her eyes widened and her ears pricked forward. She didn't know what she'd expected, but it wasn't this.

 _Where's the cabin!?_

Jareth stood where the cabin had been, dressed in rugged boots, rough leather breeches, the gray tunic and a simple leather jacket, and was carrying a brown knapsack. He smirked at her and pulled a little box out of the knapsack. Sarah stepped closer to get a better look. Nestled inside the padded wooden box was a miniature of the cabin, identical down to the last detail. Scraps of moss and fabric were stuffed around it, presumably to keep it from getting jostled around in his bag. Jareth fastened the lid back on the box and tucked it back into his knapsack.

"Something I made many years ago, in case I should ever have need of a hideaway. It grows and shrinks on command."

 _That's incredible._ she admitted. It had been a long time since she had seen magic like that. She suddenly had a deep ache in the part of her heart reserved for the magical world of the Labyrinth and her friends who lived there.

He chuckled. "One of the things my goblins were able to retrieve on their latest excursion to the Underground. They used the same door that we will."

His expression tightened noticeably at the mention of the Underground. He scowled and made his way to the circle dug around where the cabin had been, bent over, and picked up some of the engraved rocks scattered at the bottom, then tucked them in his knapsack.

She padded over to him. _If the goblins have been to the Labyrinth, how is it that no one has come to help you?_

He paused for a moment, then went back to work. Now that a few of the rocks had been collected, he had started to break the circle by filling parts of it in with a small shovel that had been lying on the ground. Finally he spoke, though his voice was stiff and restrained. "The fae are not ones to concern themselves in the affairs of others. If I am so easily removed from my kingdom, and unable to win it back of my own power, then I would be seen as unworthy of it. As it is now, very few are aware of the current situation, and, as I'm sure you can understand, I prefer to keep it that way." he paused for a moment, seemingly wrestling for control of his emotions. "The goblins have not been to the Labyrinth, the items I sent them to procure were from the homes of my youth. The usurper who stole my kingdom has made it all but inaccessible."

 _Someone's taken over the Labyrinth? That's what you meant about it being in danger, wasn't it?_

"Yes." he said, in a curt tone that was clearly meant to put an end to the conversation.

Sarah was surprised at the level of compassion this inspired in her, as well as the indignant feelings on his behalf. She could understand being worried about her friends and the other Labyrinth creatures, but didn't know what to make of the empathy she felt for the man in front of her. It was strange, him being her ally, rather than her enemy.

"Speaking of goblins," he said, wrapping up the shovel in a bit of fabric and wedging it into the knapsack, "where are those maggots? Lood!" he shouted authoritatively, "Aba-groob, Baba-wock! Come here!"

The three goblins came bolting out of the surrounding forest, tumbling and bouncing through the meadow like circus performers. They came to an abrupt stop at Jareth's feet and waved enthusiastically at Sarah, before wilting into semi-seriousness under the stern gaze of their king.

"Go ahead of us," he commanded, "I studied their movements last evening and early this morning," he said, nodding to the woods, and the hunters hidden within. "and they are neglecting the ravine, so that will be our course. The storm will provide additional cover. Come only if you are called or have something important to report."

"Yes, King!" they chorused simultaneously, before shooting off into the forest again like little warty cannon balls.

He turned and gave Sarah a long, unreadable look, then shouldered his pack and started off after them.

Sarah watched him walk away, but did not immediately follow. She looked behind her, in the direction of the compound, the prison where she had spent the last part of her childhood. Beyond that was her home, her family. She wondered if they knew what had happened to her. She wondered if they cared.

The rain began to come down with more force, and a wind picked up from the south, driving the sharp drops into her eyes and forcing her to look away. She turned to stare at the retreating back of the Goblin King. Pushing fear from her mind, she took the first step forward on this new path.

* * *

The Dark King, Lord of the Wastelands, King of the Gargoyles, and now ruler of the Labyrinth, looked out over the gloomy maze beneath him, a melancholy sigh escaping from between his lips. So long he had strived to be in this exact position, longed for it, ached for it. Now that he was here he found himself feeling unsettled, uneasy.

To rule, to be king, was a grand thing indeed, but to rule without fear of challenge, to have complete, unmitigated power, was his truest desire. He had gone to great lengths to ensure his victory, to keep _him_ bound in the Aboveworld until the required thirteen seasons had passed and the curse became irrevocable. Now, with only a week remaining before his victory was complete, everything he had worked for was being threatened by the actions of one silly, uncooperative human girl. He had believed the compound to be inescapable, and yet somehow she had managed it. And now of all times, when he was so close…

He scolded himself for underestimating her. She was the champion of the Labyrinth, after all, it was a wonder she had stayed put as long as she had. And now she was in league with Jareth, another circumstance he hadn't thought possible. He was sure, given their history, that should they ever meet she would cause Jareth nothing but trouble.

They had to be stopped. He was not able to appear in the Above as himself, only as a shadow or in his bird form, so he would have to send some of his soldiers.

A snap of his fingers brought a hideous gargoyle scritching down from the roof and in through the window. It crawled towards him on all fours, with its stony head bowed in deference.

"Jareth is traveling towards the Northern Gate from the east. You will hunt him and his companion down, and stop them at any cost."

The monster bowed until his granite fangs scratched the floor, then backed his way out of the window and down the outer wall.


	6. Catch Me If You Can

**Chapter 6: Catch Me If You Can**

* * *

 **AN: Please read and review.**

Mud squelched between Sarah's toes as she made her way carefully along the steep side of the ravine, and cold rain got into her nose and eyes, so that she had to squint to follow the path that the Goblin King took to avoid the small hidden streams and landslides rushing to the swollen creek below. The back of her mind was twisted with worry over them getting away unencumbered, but on another level she somehow knew that they would, if for no other reason that the lack of visibility due to the downpour and dense brush. That second part of her mind had spent the better part of the last few hours debating whether or not she should try to talk to the Goblin King. He had not looked back at her once since setting off, although his easy stride and alert movements spoke more of preoccupation and purpose than avoidance.

She had a great many things she wanted to say to him, wanted to ask him, but somehow they all seemed silly and inappropriate at the moment, and so she kept her thoughts to herself, bearing the heavy silence as she bore the rain and the mud and the emptiness in her stomach.

All day they moved swiftly without rest, exchanging the ravine for a swamp, the swamp for a river, the river for endless forest. The adrenaline of the previous days had worn off; Sarah's muscles ached and the now filthy and torn sweatshirt hung around her torso heavily. Finally, as the gray sky began to darken, they stopped on the bank of a river.

She watched with tired eyes as he pulled out the box containing the cabin, setting it carefully on the ground near the forest edge and muttering something strange, then jumping back to make room for the now rapidly growing cabin. Once it had reached full size, the Goblin King pulled out the small shovel and went to work digging a shallow trench around the perimeter. He still didn't acknowledge her.

Once the trench was dug, he pulled out the stones with the engravings on them and dropped them into the trench every few feet so that they were evenly spaced, then reshouldered his knapsack and went into the cabin, closing the door behind him. A light began to glow from within, and Sarah's shoulders sagged. Was he serious? All day she had reasoned that he must be focused on getting them away from the compound, silent because he was worried, or maybe even brooding about whatever it was goblin kings brooded about. All that she could excuse. But _this,_ ignoring her and treating her as if she didn't matter, this was just plain rude.

She was broken from her thoughts when he came out and looked directly at her with a smirk. He was holding a large knife.

"Well aren't you a sight. I might have thought you a goblin, if it weren't for the fur."

 _Ha ha._

"There's a few hours left until sunset, I'm off to find something for us to eat. We're still not out of danger, so stay within the perimeter of the cabin. The last thing we need is you being recaptured." he looked her up and down and let out a small chuckle, which she could do nothing but glare at. "Oh, and there's a present for you inside when you change."

And with that he was gone, striding quickly into the rainy gray forest. Sarah watched him go and then began to walk over to the cabin, curious as to what kind of present he might have left for her. She stopped before going in, looking herself up and down, and then waded into the river for a moment to wash off some of the mud. The inside of the cabin was warm and dry, and for a moment Sarah felt guilty about the puddles of water dripping down off of her.

Everything was neat and tidy, very different from the first time she'd seen it. The trunk was closed, the table was bare, the bed was made. There was a brown paper bag tied up with string sitting on the bed. Sarah huffed when she realized that she wouldn't be able to untie the string without thumbs. Not seeing what else to do, she lay down near the door and rested, the semi-sentient chiming of the medallions and the steady patter of the rain outside lulling her into a restful trance.

She stayed this was for some time, coming out of her reverie only when a full-bodied cramp alerted her to her change. Her skin smoothed, her limbs lengthened, and her senses dulled, and she stood up, now as a woman, and stretched, peeking out of the door into the gloom. It was still raining, and there was still no sign of the Goblin King. She turned around and went to sit on the bed, now a little apprehensive about the package. She pulled on the strings until they fell away and the paper came apart, revealing a gray tunic exactly like the Goblin King's. It was remarkably soft, and she smiled as she traced the silver embroidery. Without a second thought, she ripped off her damp, filthy shirt and sweatshirt, flinging them near the door before shimmying into the tunic.

"Ahh, it feels so good to be clean and dry again!" she practically moaned, hugging herself and flopping back on the mattress with a contented smile. Having an idea, she jumped up and began rifling through the trunk at the end of the bed until she found what she was looking for. She pulled on the rough leather pants, put them on, and did a little dance, happy to be fully dressed for the first time in days.

 _Enjoying yourself?_

She turned to the window, where an amused looking barn owl sat.

"How long have you been there?" she asked in surprise.

 _I just arrived. Are you pleased with your gift?_

"I am. Thank you, for this and the pants." she smiled.

 _I don't remember giving you license to steal my things, but you are welcome. That is not an ordinary shirt, you know. It will stay with your human form, so you will be free to move while in your animal form._

He was pleased to see how well the tunic fit her. His eyes drifted lower, seeing how his pants clung tightly to her shapely legs, how she had grown taller and more curvy since her run through his Labyrinth. She had become a woman, and a very attractive one at that. He realized suddenly, how long he'd been alone. He looked away, ruffling his feathers in dignified irritation. They had a curse to undo and then he had a kingdom to save, he had no time to be thinking about things like that.

"It's like yours?"

 _Yes. Consider it a peace offering._ he said in a slightly embarrassed sounding voice.

"Ok. I can do that." She gave him a small smile, glad that they seemed to be making some progress toward getting along.

 _Besides, your previous garment was ridiculous and made you unbearable slow. Now perhaps we can get to the portal before the end of the century._

Sarah squinted her eyes at him, then changed the subject. "Did you manage to find anything to eat?"

 _Berries and some rabbits. I have had my fill, help yourself._

The rain had stopped, and some stars were becoming visible in the east, pushing themselves resolutely forward against the fading light of dusk in the west. Sarah went outside and found the food laid out on a large rock near the cabin. There was a handkerchief full of blueberries, and several strips of cooked meat. She ate ravenously until it was all gone, then sat and looked at the river, seemingly deep in thought. The Goblin King had relocated to the top of the cabin and sat facing her, watching her closely.

Looking in her blazing green eyes, he could see how much she had changed. Of course she had changed, he scoffed to himself, who knows what had happened to her in that facility. He felt a stab of self loathing at his inability to help her during all this time; he had never in his life felt so impotent as he had the last few years, cut off from his magic and his royal authority, and he hated it, hated not being the one in control.

If it was not for her, he mused, this might not have happened. If he hadn't been distracted by her, he would never have let his guard down, and left himself vulnerable. Nevertheless, he found that, despite all he had lost because of her, he couldn't summon any ill feeling towards her. She was innocent in all of this, and she had suffered too.

After a few minutes she got up, thanking him again and then going into the cabin with a disappointed look when he didn't answer her. He resolved that the next day he would talk to her more, if for no other reason than to spare himself that look.

* * *

The next day dawned bright and clear, and brought a feeling of newness, of cleanness. Both Jareth and Sarah felt it, and both started the day in good spirits.

Jareth had caught several fish before dawn, and Sarah came out of the cabin to the smell of roasting meat. She sat near the fire he had built and watched the flames dance.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked pleasantly after a few moments.

 _I did…_ she responded cautiously. She wasn't sure how to feel about his apparent change in demeanor. _How about you?_

"Well enough. I have been nocturnal for the last few years, so resting at night is an adjustment."

 _Oh._

He set half of the finished fillets for her on the same rock as before, and they ate in uncomfortable silence.

Sarah tried talking with him again once they were finished. _So, this portal we're headed to. About how long do you think it will take to get there?_

"Less than two weeks, moving at a good speed." he replied, getting up and starting to pack up the cabin. "Just in time, too. There is a little over a month before the curse becomes irreversible. Took you long enough to get out of that place."

 _How are we going to break it?_ she asked, watching him as he tucked the now tiny cabin into its box and began collecting the magic rocks from the ditch.

"There are a few ways. The prefered way would be to seek out an Underground sourcerer willing to work on credit. There are a few such that I know of, the only problem will be _getting_ to them." He shouldered his pack and kicked dirt on the fire.

 _Couldn't you have sent the goblins to fetch one?_ she asked as they started walking, her a few paces behind him.

"No." he chuckled as if she had said something ridiculous. "I've only met a few sorcerers and sorceresses in my time, but the experience was enough to know that trying to _fetch_ one would end in disaster. If I had sent a goblin to them, they would have killed them, or at best enslaved him."

 _How horrible! Why?_

"They would have seen it as a grave insult. People who want their help must seek them out and prove themselves. Very temperamental and inflexible, they are."

 _You wouldn't happen to be a sorcerer yourself, would you?_ she asked wryly.

"No." he snapped.

 _Well, lucky us then, getting to 'seek them out and prove ourselves.' I can't wait._

He chuckled, then his expression became serious. "I know you hate me, but in this you must trust me, must do as I say. For both our sakes."

Sarah was silent for a moment, not sure what to say. She didn't hate him, but she wasn't sure that it would be wise to tell him that. She didn't care much for his treatment of her over the past several days, but he seemed to be making an effort to at least be civil, and she didn't want to discourage him. She settled for changing the subject.

 _Where are the goblins?_

"Just over there." He nodded to the other side of the river they were following, and Sarah glimpsed a pair of black beady eyes staring at her from inside of a bush. There was a shrill giggle and the eyes disappeared.

They continued on like this for several hours, making occasional small talk in a strained and uncomfortable attempt to maintain civility. They stopped for a silent lunch of leftover fish, and then started off again, plodding on and on through the endless forest along the river's edge. The highlight of the afternoon was Jareth announcing that they were well out of the range of the search party. He warned her that they still must be on their guard, but Sarah felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her; she felt lighter and more playful than she had in a long time. Added to that was the lack of a huge, wet sweatshirt weighing her down; she was able to move freely and began taking advantage of her newfound mobility by exploring the forest around them, still following Jareth, but not nearly as closely as before.

He expressed his disapproval by sighing and snorting and shaking his head at her antics, but he did not try to command her as he had before. Feeling a streak of mischieviousness, Sarah ran up ahead of him and stopped short, looking back at him over her shoulder.

 _I'll race you._

"What? Are you serious?" he sneered, raising a sculpted eyebrow.

 _Come on. Let's see who can get to that big rock over there first._

"This is childish." he said in a bored voice.

 _You're just afraid I'll win!_

He stopped walking and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That is not-"

She took off, not waiting for him to finish.

Within moments, she heard the sound of leather boots pounding on the forest floor behind her. She looked back, pleased, and was surprised to see that he was catching up, fast. She turned back and doubled her speed, beating him to the rock easily.

Or so she thought. She stopped and turned around and there he was, right on her heels and still looking irritated. "Rematch. To the river."

This time it was he who took off without warning, and Sarah watched him for a moment, noting how his thigh muscles rippled under his tight trousers, and wishing that his tunic wasn't quite so long, before realizing that he was halfway to the river. She took off, pushing herself to win. He got to the river well before her, and turned to face her with a triumphant smirk and his hands on his hips.

"Come now, is that the best you've got?" he said mockingly.

 _You took me by surprise!_

He tutted and gave her a look of mock disappointment.

 _Again. This time we'll start at the count of three, so that it'll be fair._ Her muscles were burning, but she was determined to win now. And there was something exciting about seeing him like this, the great Goblin King, dressed in rough clothing, hair wild and pale skin flushed, his breathing quick and shallow and his uneven eyes shining with energy.

"Very well. Do you see that snag off afar?" he said, pointing to a dead tree jutting up out of the forest canopy some half mile off.

She nodded.

"One, two, three!"

He reached over and shoved her down to the ground, then took off laughing.

 _Hey! You sneaking, cheating… grr!_

She took off after him furiously, egged on by his easy pace and his laugher that tumbled back to her. After a few hundred feet of darting through the forest, she drew even with him, and then passed him as the snag drew closer. She had to admit, he was an impressive runner, to be able to nearly outpace her even though she currently had twice as many legs. Still, she knew she would win.

He was hot on her heels, and the snag was drawing closer and closer. Sarah's muscles ached and burned as she pushed herself, and it was too late that she noticed the orange glow on the horizon, and realized that the aches and pains were not just from running. She was moving too fast to stop, and tripped and crashed into the ground as she changed back into a woman. Unfortunately, Jareth was also running too fast to stop suddenly, and was too close behind her to swerve. He crashed down on top of her with a grunt.

"Oh, ow…." she groaned, putting her hands on her head.

"Are you alright?" Jareth asked, propping himself up on his forearms to examine her.

She turned over to see him better, then examined her hands. They had a few scratches, but it was her head that hurt. She looked up and realized that she had bumped it on the base of the snag.

She smiled at him. "I think I'm alright. More importantly, I think I win."

He looked at her for a moment, then let out a short laugh. She felt her heart flutter, seeing such a genuinely happy expression on his face. He had a beautiful smile.

"It seems we have lost track of the time." He gazed up at the sky and his expression became distant. She stared at him, waiting to see what he might do next, becoming more and more aware of his body pressed against hers.

"Um, Jareth?"

He blinked and seemed to come back out of whatever thoughts had kept him captive. "Yes?"

"Could you… get off me?" she asked, hopeful that the shadows of the forest would obscure her blush.

He smirked, but immediately rolled off her and into a sitting position at her side. She raised herself up to sit next to him, tucking her legs beneath her and examining his pack, which he was rifling through, with extreme interest in order to ignore the wave of embarrassment that burned through her. This was the Goblin King, who stole babies and tormented people, who had gotten her into this mess by simply existing. She shouldn't be feeling this way.

"Here." he said, pulling out the cabin-box and handing it to her. "I have maybe 30 seconds. You can set it up by putting your finger on the front door and saying 'Ina gcónaí dul i ngleic lá eile', understand?"

"Say that again?" she said, rolling the strange words over her tongue and through her mind and willing them to stick.

"Ina gcónaí dul i ngleic lá eile. It means, 'live to fight another day' in the old tongue. And you saw how to set up the ditch, yes?" his words were rushed now.

"Yes, I think I can manage," she said, running her fingers around the edge of the wooden box's lid. She looked up in time to watch his body twist and shrink quickly, becoming the owl. He ruffled his wings and flew up to a nearby tree branch, leaving her and his remaining clothes behind. She grabbed his pants and pulled them on, too tired at this point to care what he might think about it, then just sat there for a moment, suddenly feeling a deep, permeating peace. The evening was warm and the sounds of the forest were all around her, giving the air a feeling of freedom and harmony. She was tired, but it was the good kind of tired, that deep satisfying ache that you get after plenty of exercise. And after all she'd been through, she was finally on the way to a resolution. She was on the way back to her family. She could almost say she felt happy.

 _Are you going to just sit there all night?_ came Jareth's sarcastic voice from somewhere up in the growing darkness.

She sighed and got up, opening the box when she found a patch of ground that looked flat enough and big enough for a cabin. She gingerly took the little structure out, surprised at its lightness, and set it down carefully. She then placed her finger on the door as Jareth had said, and slowly recited, "Ina gcónaí dul i ngleic lá eile," then jumped back as the cabin grew rapidly.

 _Good. Now don't forget the ditch._

She looked up, but he was invisible in the dense tree cover around her little clearing. She turned back find the knapsack, and discovered one of the goblins standing silently behind her, holding it up. It wasn't Lood, but a different one. She resolved to learn their names soon.

"Here ya go, Lady-wolf," it said with smile, then quickly scampered off.

"Thank you!" she called after it. They really weren't so bad, the goblins, after you got past their appearance and strange behavior. She felt a pang, remembering her friends in the Labyrinth. What would she do, if something had happened to them?

She pulled out the small shovel and began digging, within minutes deciding to make sure that they stopped to set up camp early enough for Jareth to do this everyday instead of her. It was nearly completely dark before she managed to dig a shallow trench around the cabin's perimeter. She put the magic stones in at regular intervals, then wiped the sweat from her brow and grabbed the pack, heading into the cabin, more than ready for sleep.

 _Sarah-_ came a quiet, almost hesitant voice in her mind.

She turned, staring up into the dark and waiting for him to continue. There was a long stretch of prickly silence, and she began to think that he had changed his mind about whatever he was about to say.

But when he did speak again, his voice was once more like warm honey in her mind, confident and smooth. _Thank you for agreeing to come with me to the Underground. I sense that you may not feel much trust in me, and yet you chose to follow me anyway. I appreciate that. After all, time is short-_

"-And we have a long way to go. Your welcome. You're right that I don't trust you, but we are in this together, after all."

There was another silence, but this time there was no tension in it.

"Thank you for being nice today." she said.

 _Oh no, I'm never nice. You're simply the first person I've had to talk to in years that isn't a goblin._ his voice was once more sharp and sneering, but Sarah simply shrugged. She was starting to think that his moments of unpleasantness weren't entirely sincere.

"Ok."

 _Good night, Sarah._

"Good night, Jareth. See you in the morning."

She walked into the cabin and shut the door. Everything was mysteriously neat and tidy once more, the large candle was on the table was lit, and all the gris-gris and medallions glittered and buzzed in a warm, welcoming way. She quickly slipped beneath the bedcover, curling up to ward off the growing chill. She settled down and sought comfort, but sleep eluded her. Whereas before her mind had been filled with nothing but thoughts of sleep, now it was filled with thoughts of everything else. Images darted through her mind one after the other, images of her friends, her family, the guards and staff from the compound, images of Jareth. After laying there for a while longer, she began to think about the goblins, all alone out there in the cold October night. Why should they have to stay away? It wasn't like Jareth was here. She felt like she had to help someone. Resolved, she jumped out of bed and stepped outside, wondering if they were nearby, and if they would come if she called.

"Lood?" she called out in a hushed voice.

There was no response, not even the grumpy chastisement of a certain owl. He must be off flying somewhere, she thought. She stepped over the ditch that made the cabin invisible, stepping a few paces into the forest.

"Lood? Goblins? Will you come here please? I want to talk to you."

The forest was dead quiet, pale and lifeless in the dim moonlight.

"It's ok," she tried again, a little louder. "You're not in trouble, I just want to talk to-"

"Lady!" a voice squeaked from behind her. "Lady, you got to get back in-"

Its voice was cut off with a squeak and a thud as it crashed into a nearby tree. Sarah turned around, sucking in a breath and staring with wide eyes and the most frightening creature she had ever seen. It was a hunched, twisted monster about the size of a man, with long limbs and gravely, grey, stone-like skin. It's face was misshapen and unsymmetrical, with horns and wrinkles and long fangs all not quite in the right place. The only part of it that didn't look like a living boulder of death was the eyes; red and swollen and murderous. Its nostrils widened, and it lunged.

Sarah screamed and ran into the woods at full speed. She headed in the direction of the river, hoping that something that large and heavy wouldn't be able to swim. The gargoyle crashed through the forest behind her, the sound of snapping wood and ripped branches underscored by a terrible low, rumbling growl, like the purr of an enormous demonic cat.

She raced through the dark, miraculously not tripping or crashing into anything, running barefoot through the brush guided by panicked instinct. After maybe a minute of this, the logical part of her mind kicked in, informing her that she was, in fact, running away from the sound of the river. She felt, or perhaps imagined, the feel of hot, rancid breath on her neck, and she focused on her leg muscles, forcing them to work harder, forcing her lungs to take in more air, as she tried to run in a wide arc so that she would be heading towards the river.

Too late, she saw a log in her path, and sprawled forward as her leg caught on it. She turned over just in time to see the monster looming over her, concrete jaw unhinged, rabid eyes shining down on her. She put her arms over her face and tried to scoot back, knowing it was pointless, that any moment it would strike, and she would be done for.

There was an awful, scratching cry, and she peeked between her arms to see what was going on. A white blur fluttered around the gargoyle's head, wicked talons dipping in and slicing through the soft tissue of the creature's eyes. It began to back up, to back away, and Sarah scrambled to her feet, ready to run. The owl pursued it, like an avenging moonlit spirit, and it began to thrash around in confusion. One of its swipes struck true, and the white blur was knocked aside and fell to the ground with a muffled screech.

Sarah darted forward and picked him up, holding him close as she ran off blindly into the darkness and silver shadows of the nighttime woods. A goblin appeared as she ran, and she followed it back to the cabin, ears peeled for an ominous crashing sound behind her, that thankfully never came.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **I wrote a big, long, emotional paragraph about Bowie, and then I deleted it. I refuse to be sad and depressed, and I refuse to speak about him in the past tense. I will write, and I will celebrate, and I will love the Goblin King as much as always, because in our work, he will live forever. So there.**


	7. Accountability

**Chapter 7: Accountability**

* * *

The dim candlelight flickered over disheveled feathers, giving Sarah glimpses of the red spots that stained the white. They frightened her, those little spots, made her feel small and impotent. One of the goblins shut the cabin door behind her, leaving the two of them alone.

"You're hurt. You're bleeding." Her voice was quiet, clipped, her hands hovered over him where he lay on the table.

 _Good Lord, you act like I'm on my deathbed. It's just a dislocated arm. Wing. Whatever._

"I can fix that, right? What do people do, just pop it back into the socket?"

You _don't do anything. Not until you calm down._

"I just want to help." she let her arms fall to her side in exasperation. "This is all my fault…"

 _I'm fine, woman! If you want to do something helpful, sit me upright. I feel ridiculous sprawled out like this._

She gently picked him up and set him on his feet, her eyes catching how he stiffened and winced.

"You don't look fine."

The sound of his laughter rolled through her mind, a low, rumbling chuckle that provoked her to irritation with remarkable alacrity.

"What's so funny?" her voice now no longer hushed, it was sharp and guarded and colored with something awfully close to a pout.

 _I never would have thought_ you _would have been this worried about_ me.

Sarah scowled and took a step back from him, folding her arms over her chest defensively. "I just feel bad that you got hurt because of me. That's all."

 _Ah. I see._ he said complacently. Then, after a pause, _What were you doing out there?_

"I was-" she paused, feeling suddenly foolish. "...I was looking for the goblins. I thought they might like to sleep in the cabin. It was cold out." her excuse seemed to her own ears to fall flat, but the owl just sat and stared at her. She thought maybe she should thank him, for saving her, but something held her back. His words echoed back to her from a fews days ago, " _Haven't you ever been warned against thanking my kind?"_ She thought she understood him, a little. Actions spoke louder than words.

 _Them, but not me? I'm wounded._ he said in an amused voice.

Her thoughtfulness and compassion amazed him. How could anyone be so kind, in such circumstances?

Sarah looked at him strangely. "You're not mad at me?"

 _What's done is done, precious thing. You don't plan on prancing off into the night alone again, do you?_

She grimaced and looked away. "I should have listened when you said we were still in danger." she admitted begrudgingly, and much to his satisfaction. "What was that thing?"

 _A gargoyle of the Wastelands. It seems that whoever caused us all this trouble in the first place doesn't want us to return to the Underground._

"Does it give you any better idea about who might be behind all of this?" She would love to know who was responsible for the last few years of her life. Then she could hunt them down and punch them in the face, or bite them with her big wolfy teeth.

 _Not really. The Lord of the Wastelands is utterly unknown to me. However, now I know that it_ is _him who has cursed us and stolen my throne. Only he has dominion over the gargoyles. Only he would have sent one._

The mention of the gargoyles brought her full attention back to him. "Do you think more will come after us?" she asked, gaze intent.

 _Possibly. We must stick together, and be alert. I believe gargoyles only travel in darkness, so we shall travel and hunt by day only._

She nodded, then frowned at the way his left wing hung at a crooked angle.

"If it's just a dislocated wing, then where did all the blood come from?"

His head twisted and rotated as he inspected himself, then he turned his black eyes back on her. _It's not mine._

Sarah looked herself up and down, finding several small cuts and scrapes on her arms and hands. She had been so pumped with adrenaline that she hadn't noticed. The bleeding had stopped, but several of them needed cleaning.

"Oh. Okay then." she said, business-like in an attempt to maintain her own calm. "Will you let me fix your wing now?"

 _No, no, best wait until dawn. Putting the bone back in place will be far less complicated then._

She eyed him carefully, wondering if he was bluffing about his injuries. "Does it hurt?"

 _Would it make you feel better if I said no?_

She smirked a little at his sarcasm, then pulled out the small wooden chair and sat down, weariness creeping into her bones. The silence thickened and seeped closer, and the dim candlelight seemed to grow dimmer still.

"You are very irritating, you know," she said suddenly in the sleepy gloom between them, "I can't tell whether you're a villain or not."

The was a long pause, and Sarah had begun to think she'd offended him, but when he finally spoke in her mind, his rich voice was incredulous and amused, and drenched with sarcasm and double meaning.

 _Please, fair maiden, tell how I have "irritated" you._

Sarah was unaffected. Something about him being ten inches tall and covered with fluffy feathers made her feel as though she could speak freely.

"The baby-stealing thing; definitely villainous, but on the other hand, you've saved me twice now. That's suspiciously heroic." She frowned at him critically, leaning back in the chair.

 _Three times, actually._

"Oh yeah?" she challenged.

 _You'll recall the cleaners.  
_

Sarah paused for a moment before answering, deciding if she wanted to yell or not. She settled for mirroring his sarcasm. "Please, great Goblin King, tell me how that qualifies as 'saving me'." she fixed her gaze on him, a gaze that could have cut bedrock.

 _The false wall. It gave way._ he explained in a bland voice.

Sarah saw red, and sat up straight in the chair. "How anyone could consider that _saving-"_

 _-It gave way,_ he interrupted forcefully, _and not only saved you from the cleaners, but also led you away from other, far more deadly, perils of my Labyrinth. The whole scene was orchestrated for YOUR benefit! Had I wanted to destroy you, had I wanted to cause you harm, I would have done so by my OWN hand._

There was a stifling silence between them, and Sarah felt suffocated. He had _helped_ her?

"Then why?" she asked serenely after a long, heated pause, "Why did you take Toby?"

He had been looking away all this time, empty avian gaze fixed disinterestedly on the window over Sarah's shoulder. His gaze flicked to her for a moment, and the dank, cold air seemed to glow with charged electricity; her skin became inexplicably warm, and her heart beat faster.

 _It wasn't him I wanted to keep._

He looked away and the dim returned, and Sarah knew better than to say any more. Her mind was reeling with the depth and dimensions of his words; her instinct was to be defiant and confrontational in response, but that would not do if she wanted to get any useful answers out of him. She was no longer fifteen, but a young woman of eighteen, and she had control over herself, if nothing else. And it was late, and they were, the both of them, spent.

Without a word, she got up and walked over to the bed, folding herself under the covers and submitting to sleep before allowing herself another thought.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye, taking note of how she no longer feared him.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **Yeah, yeah, it's too freaking short, I know. This just felt like the right place to end the chapter. You all still love me, yes yes?**

 **Please review! Reviews make me write faster :-D**


	8. Things That Grow In Rocky Soil

**AN: I'm SO SORRY for the delay in getting this chapter out, life is ridiculously crazy, I literally had to get up early on a Saturday morning and ignore my children for half a day just to get this written. (Don't feel bad for them, they got to binge on video games)**

 **For those of you just hanging around waiting for the lemons (no shame, no shame): very soon.**

 **Please review! The more reviews I get, the greater my motivation to write.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Things That Grow In Rocky Soil**

The shadows in the still-dark cabin clung and condensed as the first ray of dawn pierced through the evergreen treetops outside. The Goblin King pushed himself off of the table and stretched his long limbs, careful of his injured arm, before walking silently over to the sleeping woman in his bed. And a woman she certainly was now, a girl no longer. His eyes roved over her as she slept, from her bare toes peeking out from the crumpled blanket, over the curves of her hips and the dip of her waist, to the chocolate tresses that spilled over the pillow. He clenched his uninjured hand at his side as a wave of longing rushed through him, followed immediately by an undercurrent of bitter anger. He hated that he felt these things still, after her rejection, after losing everything due to his obsession with her those three years ago now. He hated the power she held over him. But he could never hate her, no, never her. He wondered if she would laugh if she knew of his weakness. He had almost admitted it last night, and she had not laughed then. He pushed his thoughts and feelings aside for the moment and sat down beside her.

She frowned at the disturbance to her sleep, crinkling her nose and turning her face into the pillow. It was adorable. The corner of his mouth turned up in spite of himself.

"Sarah," he called in a softly lilting voice, his lips twitching again as she shifted, then stiffened as she woke and became suddenly aware of how near he was. She seemed to gather herself before opening her eyes, although whatever she had been about to say, or not say, fled her mind as her gaze fell on his injured arm, which hung at a disturbing angle.

"Oh!" she said, sitting up abruptly and darting her eyes to the dawn light washing through the window and then back to him. "Your shoulder. Is there enough time to fix it? You should have woken me sooner! I mean-"

He watched her in curious silence as the various emotions played across her unguarded face, then his eyes narrowed as she closed herself off and backtracked.

"I just- I don't want us to be delayed. We both have homes to get back to."

He stared at her coldly for a long, uncomfortable moment, not reacting or responding to her words. Finally, just as a slight blush began to creep up her cheeks in the dim light, he spoke, curtly. "If you're quite ready, then?"

She nodded and got up, pulling her tunic down as far as it would go and tucking her tangled hair between her ears before walking around the bed and sitting awkwardly next to him, on the side of the dislocated arm.

"What do I do?" she asked, businesslike.

"Put your hand here and here," he said, taking her hands in his right hand and setting them on the correct places on his left arm, careful to avoid the still-healing bite mark she had given him. "Now lift to this angle," he continued calmly, guiding her. The pain of this was truly excruciating for him, but they did not have time to move slowly. "Now, on the count of three, I am going to lean in and you will push with all of your strength."

Sarah nodded, waiting for his command.

"I, 2, 3-"

He grit his teeth and leaned in, and Sarah forced the arm up and in until there was an audible 'pop', and the bone went back into place. Jareth let out a deep sigh of relief and flexed his arm a few times, then made to stand, but was stopped by Sarah's hand suddenly clasping his. He looked down warily at her hand wrapped around his, as one might watch a snake they have stumbled upon by accident, unsure whether it is poisonous or not.

"I…" she fumbled for words, not sure what she should say, if anything. She wanted to tell him that she was glad he was ok, but she didn't. She wanted to thank him for saving her (again), but she didn't say that either. She wanted, badly, to ask what exactly he had meant when he had said that it wasn't Toby that he had wanted, but she definitely didn't ask that.

The silence between them seemed to stretch on for hours, though in reality it was only seconds. His eyes left their still joined hands and traveled up her arm and to her face, and something changed in the air between them. The world felt suddenly very small, and quiet, and highly charged with something electric. Sarah was aware of every breath and every tiny movement they made. She was especially aware of how his eyes lingered on her lips, of how he seemed to get closer, of how dangerously perceptive his eyes were as they locked on hers, and how they seemed to draw her in despite herself. She braced herself, feeling suddenly sure that whatever was about to happen would change things between them, and not necessarily for the better.

"Yer Majesty!" squawked the brown curly-haired goblin as it burst through the door, spilling bags of groceries all over the cabin floor as it tripped over the threshold and landed flat on its face.

The Goblin King's eyes darted back to the flustered looking woman-now-changed-to-a-wolf on the bed next to him, who quickly got down and moved to sit over by the table. She did not return his gaze, looking instead out the window with fierce determination. He stood and crossed his arms before addressing his tiny subject.

"Baba-wock," he started in a steely voice, hard gaze peering down on the goblin over a sharp nose and pursed lips, "explain yourself."

"We found a town! Ten miles north! We brings food!" the goblin exclaimed enthusiastically, waving a loaf of sourdough excitedly and apparently oblivious to his monarch's displeasure.

"I can see that. Is there anything _else_?" Jareth said, in a voice better suited to the sentencing of a convict to death than to thanking someone.

"Um… no?" the poor little brown goblin croaked, beginning to be confused as to why his good news was not being received well.

"Then get _out_. And Baba-wock?"

The goblin, who had grabbed a loaf of cinnamon raisin breakfast bread and begun to back out the door, stopped and squeaked timidly, "Yes, Majesty?'

"You will not enter this cabin again, except in cases of extreme emergency. Do I make myself clear?" the Goblin King said in a dangerously quiet voice, carefully enunciating the last few words.

"Crystal, yer Majesty." the goblin turned his big black eyes on Sarah and grinned. "Hi Lady!"

 _Hi, Baba-wock._ Sarah answered in an amused tone.

And then, before his king could manage so much as a snarl, Baba-wock tucked his bread under his arm and performed a spectacular backflip, swinging the door shut in front of him while still in mid-air.

 _He's a little funny goblin._ Sarah said quickly, seeing the serious look in Jareth's eye and wanting to take control of the conversation before anything could be said about their almost-kiss.

The Goblin King, who saw exactly what she was doing, raised an eyebrow before humoring her. "Yes, I suppose. If you find idiotic acrobats amusing."

It was Sarah's turn to raise an eyebrow (though she wasn't sure if she succeeded, she still wasn't exactly sure if she _had_ eyebrows).

 _You could have said thank you to him._

"What, thank him for likely robbing some poor grocer and blatantly disobeying my commands? I will not tolerate undeserved criticism from you Sarah," he said silkily, then wondered why he had said that last bit at all. He tried to correct it, and ended up saying something even worse. "If anyone else spoke to me as you just did, their consequences would be severe.

Sarah glared at him, but refused to respond.

"You're not planning on biting me again, are you?" he asked somewhat teasingly, wondering at her intense gaze. Her golden laughter rolled through his mind, and he found himself smiling in response.

 _No, not at the moment your majesty. Breakfast is far more appealing._

He snorted and they each found something suitable, Sarah tearing into a bag of bagels, while Jareth nibbled pensively on some sourdough.

When they had packed up the cabin and headed out, she thought she saw him discretely nodding to a still-wary Baba-wock, before the goblin darted ahead with the others. She smiled to herself, and they set off to the north, keeping pace with each other and maintaining a trickle of awkward but mostly pleasant conversation all through the morning.

They went along more cautiously than before, ever alert for the possibility of a stone monster hidden in the trees, of blazing eyes following them. More than once they thought they saw something, or heard something, but it always turned out to be nothing. The goblins stayed closer now as well, almost always visible from the corners of their eyes.

They had hoped to reach the town that Baba-wock had spoken of by that afternoon, but, unsurprisingly, things did not go as planned. There was another river barring them from going any further north, and it was too wide and fast moving for Sarah, who was never the best swimmer, to cross. The goblins found a shallow, calm place to ford, but it was another ten miles out of their way to the east. They still had not reached it by the time the sun began to sink, so they set up camp on a sandy beach bordering what looked to be a promising fishing hole.

Sarah watched as Jareth dove in and caught several fish, throwing them to the shore where Sarah would make sure they didn't get away. He swam a bit before finally getting out, cleaning the fish then roasting them over the fire that the goblins had made. He looked ridiculously good wet, and she had to force herself to think of other things.

She wished she could do something to help; her current lack of thumbs made her feel useless. Maybe she should learn to hunt or something. For the moment, she settled on striking up a conversation.

 _My dad used to take me fishing when I was little. The other girls would always be disgusted when I told them about finding worms and cleaning fish._

Jareth looked up in surprise at this unexpected sharing. She had not spoken about her family yet, something which had surprised him. "Do you miss them?"

Sarah stared at the flames for a long time before answering, her thoughts seeming to jump around in her mind, never settling, never sure. Surely they were still looking for her, surely they wanted her still. Once the curse was broken, they would welcome her back, they would be so happy to see her. Right?

 _Yes, of course I do._

"You will see them again one day." he said quietly, turning the makeshift spigot that the fish roasted on.

She lifted her eyes, examining him carefully. She was becoming more and more aware of how little she knew about him. What was he exactly, baby-stealing villain, or something else?

 _What about you? What about your family?_

He stiffened noticeable and stared coldly into the fire, lips a tight line. For a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he spoke, in a flat and matter-of-fact voice.

"My father was Goblin King before I. My mother, his queen, was an immortal human. I also had a younger brother. A half brother. They are all gone."

Sarah blinked, absorbing all of this.

 _I'm sorry for your loss._

"Don't be. My father killed my mother, and I killed my brother. More or less, anyway. I deserve no condolences."

 _What! What do you mean?_

She stood up abruptly and stared at him in disbelief, backing a few steps away. He looked up at her gravely and shrugged his shoulders.

"Fret not, little Sarah, I am no murderer, if that is what you fear. They died by our actions, not by our hands. Such fates are not uncommon, it seems, among the arrogant and proud." he finished bitterly.

Seeing that she was still on the edge of panic, he elaborated.

"My mother died shortly after childbirth. She was ill most of her pregnancy, and her state of mind, her depression and hopelessness, was certainly caused by my father, and certainly a contributing factor in her death. My brother was not his child, you see."

Sarah sat back down, and Jareth continued, gaze lost somewhere in the fire.

"At one time, the peoples of the Underground mingled freely, both dark and light and all those inbetween. They each had their own autonomous realms and lands, of course, but diplomacy was practiced by all, in the common understanding that a war would completely destroy us. As part of his diplomatic responsibility, my father often held balls, where all would be invited. At one such gathering, my mother had stepped out to put me to bed. I was still very young then. After she left my rooms, a wraith from a nearby darkland, that had come to attend the ball, followed her and forced himself on her. I still remember the sounds of her screams.

My father hunted the wraith down and killed it, killed its entire clan. The other kings and queens of the Underground managed to prevent war, but only just. Ever since, those of dark and light magic have been divided, separate in all ways.

Meanwhile, my mother was found to be with child. My father was determined that the child would die for the sins of its father, and couldn't understand why my mother refused to end the pregnancy. He felt betrayed by her, by her refusal to kill her baby. He was not kind to her, not until the end. When he saw that she would not survive the ordeal, he realized the error of his ways, but it was too late. Before she died, she did manage to gain a promise from him, a promise that he would not harm the child, and that it would always be cared for."

He paused for a long moment, and Sarah sat very still, hardly daring to breath while she waited for him to continue.

"This is where my guilt comes in. I should have fought for my brother, should have found a way to help him. I should have kept track of him, made sure he was well. But I did not.

Rohben was a strange child, tainted and deformed. Plants that he touched would often wither and die, and any living creature that he spent too much time with became twisted and wrong. Out of concern for the kingdom I would one day inherit, I let him go, and I did not concern myself with where my father had sent him. He had gone to the trolls, I later found out."

 _Why the trolls?_

"Because trolls are not clever. He would have been trained to be a laborer, maybe even a warrior, but he wouldn't have been educated, and wouldn't have learned magic. He wouldn't have become a threat. But he had never possessed the best health or strength, and the lifestyle was too hard on him. He did not survive his adolescence."

 _I'm so sorry. You can't possibly blame yourself for that though, you were still a kid yourself, weren't you?_

"Yes. But I was the crown prince, and his only family. I could have done something, said something."

Sarah didn't know what to say.

Jareth continued. "My father disappeared shortly after I came of age, leaving me a kingdom in shambles. His mind had been slipping over the years; he was never the same after my mother's death. Many tried to find him, but he was simply gone, gone without a trace."

He laughed suddenly, but it was a dry, false thing. "Well, there you are Sarah. What do you think of me now?" His voice held false cheer, but his eyes dared her to hate him, dared her to pity him.

She did not.

 _I think the fish is done. I'll go get some bread to go with it._

They ate in silence. It should have been a tense silence, and it was, but it was more than that, there was a sense of camaraderie and understanding beneath the tension.

"You are worried that they will not welcome you back." he spoke over the fire, breaking the deep silence that they had been wrapped in.

She looked up, surprised, knowing that he was talking about her family. The denial was right there on the edge of her mind, but the words tasted like a lie before they were even fully formed, so she stayed silent, dropping her the gaze back into the dying embers.

He looked at her a long moment, seeming to consider something. Finally he spoke, and his words shocked her.

"You will always have a place in the Labyrinth, should you wish it."

Sarah stared openly at him, wondering at his words which clearly spoke of him caring for her in some form. When had that happened? Just now? Over the last few days? Or, she considered with a mix of awe and bewildered astonishment, had it been all the while? Unbidden, his words from last night drifted through her mind, followed by an image of him in a room of broken illusions, all in white, pleading his case, offering her something beyond her 15 year old self's ability to comprehend or value.

She blinked, seeing him again as he was now, feral and pale, an exile overflowing with wounded pride and mock indifference, a born-king stripped bare and yet not found wanting. She secretly admired him for a moment.

He noticed her admiring, and wondered what to make of it. He had begun to think that her fear of him was not in fact fear at all. He got up stealthily, noting the sinking sun at her back, and slowly sat down beside her.

Sarah, who was overcome with the unpleasantness of her change, didn't notice how close he was at first, preoccupied as she was with the soreness in her arms and legs that she tried to rub out. She jumped a little when she turned to face him, and found his nose only a few inches from hers. She unconsciously tugged the hem of her tunic to cover herself a bit more.

"Do you understand?" he said in a soft, silky voice, his body still leaning dangerously close to hers.

She didn't, not really. It was just too much, too much. She didn't want to understand, at least that's what she told herself. "I appreciate it, really, but I'm sure I'll be fine…" she trailed off, wondering why she wasn't scooting away from him.

He gave her a long, appraising look, and then, seeing what he needed in her eyes, he leaned in…

"BALLS, BALLS, CRYSTAL AND GLASS

ROUND AND ROUND THEY GO!"

The goblins, having grown bored waiting for their dinner, began singing on the outskirts of the camp. The sound was comparable to the sound of screeching bats being slowly roasted alive combined with metal blades scraping against concrete. Sarah winced and covered her ears, while Jareth growled and sat back, rubbing his temples.

-IN THE AIR AND EVERYWHERE

THEY ROLL TO AND FRO!

BALLS, BALLS, CRYSTAL AND GLASS

W' THEIR MAGIC NOTHING CAN COMPARE!

SMOOTH AND BARE OR COVERED WITH HAIR

OUR GOBLIN KING HAS QUITE A-

At this point Jareth began throwing rocks at the goblins' heads, causing them to breaking down into mischievous giggles and run off.

Sarah was trying very hard not to laugh, and was only partially successful. Jareth glowered at her silent giggles, but it was more out of defeat than any actually anger. Impulsively, she leaned in and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

The moment after her little peck was the worst part of Jareth's day, because at that second the sun sank fully behind the horizon, and he was forced to change into an owl before he could properly react to her kiss. He beat his wings angrily, rising in the air and circling higher and higher above her.

 _Stay near the camp and go inside the cabin at the first sign of trouble. I'll be back in an hour or so._

And with that he flew off, cursing the unfairness of it all. Sarah watched him go with a smile on her face, still chuckling a little from the goblins and still blushing from the look of lust that had been in his eyes right before he changed.

After a moment she got up and started tidying up the camp, putting out the fire and cleaning clothes and cooking things in the river. Once she was done she sat on the bank for a moment, watching the moon and stars come out. Their reflections danced on the still water of the fishing hole, and made it look very inviting. Sarah looked herself up and down, realizing how long it had been since she washed. She glanced around quickly, but couldn't see anyone. She knew that the goblins were probably keeping an eye on her, but right now she cared more about cleanliness than modesty. She pulled the tunic off over her head and waded in quickly.

The water was cold and clear, and so refreshing. She scrubbed every inch of herself, loosing all the dirt and grime and dried blood, being careful of her healing cuts and bruises. Finally she dunked under, working her hands through her hair as much as she could before having to come up for breath, then repeating that over and over until she was satisfied that her hair was as clean as it was going to get.

She waded to where it was shallow enough for her to sit down and still have the water cover her breasts, and began the long job of trying to untangle her hair by hand.

"I would kill for a hairbrush," she thought aloud after several minutes of this.

 _Ask the goblins. They'll find you one somewhere._

She jumped and covered herself, pulling her knees up and crossing her arms over her chest. The voice had come from somewhere on the opposite bank, and, looking carefully, she spotted him, a small whitish shape sitting on a low branch about a hundred feet away.

"How long have you been there!?" she cried indignantly.

His low, rumbling chuckle ran through her mind. _Not long, precious thing. Don't worry, I haven't seen anything the least bit interesting._ he said, his voice carrying a clear tone of disappointment near the end.

Sarah scowled at him, knowing he could see her perfectly well at this distance with his owl eyesight, so she wasn't sure if she believed him.

He flew closer, settling on a low hanging branch over the fishing hole about 25 feet from her now. She could see him clearly in the moonlight, and was about to tell him to go away, when he spoke again.

 _We found another gargoyle prowling the woods, not far from here. Aba-groob and Lood have successfully led it far away on a false trail. I came back earlier than expected not be sure of your safety._

Oh. Well she certainly couldn't yell at him now, could she? The mention of the gargoyle sent shivers through her completely unrelated to the now-icy water, and she drew her arms around herself tighter. She wanted to get out, to get back to the cabin.

"Could you turn around?" she said in an unhappy, demanding voice.

He just sat there watching her, and she could practically feel the orneriness in the air.

"Please?" she added.

He swiveled his head to face the opposite direction, without actually turning his body.

"Smartass," she muttered to herself, grabbing her tunic and dashing for the cabin door.

 _I heard that._ he called after her as she shut herself inside. He settled in the window once she had climbed into the bed, but they did not speak again.

Neither of them got very much sleep that night, and not just because of the threat of the gargoyle. They both felt it, this thing growing between them, taking root and unfurling its leaves, it was wild, it was undeniable, unstoppable. They felt it growing whenever they were near, and through the night neither could keep their thoughts from the other. Even when she slept, Sarah dreamed of him. She dreamed of him in the river with her, sitting wrapped around her in the clear water, his warm hands running over her chilled skin…

Unsurprisingly, neither of them was in a particularly good mood come morning. Sarah shivered at the heated, dissatisfied look in his eyes after he changed back into a man, and decided that she should just get up and go outside before anything happened. Her feet, however, wouldn't cooperate, and she found herself just sitting there on the bed, watching him approach. He stopped short at the foot of the bed, as if waiting for her to come to him, and to her great surprise she found herself standing in front of him, her heartbeat all a-flutter.

"Good morning, Sarah." he said simply.

"Good morning," she answered, and then his lips were on hers, and her heart stopped. It was not what she had anticipated, what with all the sexual tension between them, she had expected something passionate, something with teeth, something wild. But this kiss was almost gentle, almost tender, and over before she was able to respond. He drew back and watched her, his expression suddenly closed. She realized then that he expected her to reject him, and her heart started again, pounding in her chest.

She tossed her inhibitions out the window, throwing her arms around him and kissing him back with fire. There was a voice in the back of her head, yelling at her to stop, asking her what the hell she was doing, what she was getting herself into, but she ignored it, pressing herself up against him and moaning softly as he pushed her body roughly against the closed door. The heat of his body and his lips made her dizzy, and now there was teeth, now there was passion, now her hands twisted themselves in his hair-

All too soon, she felt the change begin, and shoved him away with a groan. He looked affronted for a moment, before apprehension dawned on his face, followed by frustration. He walked over to the desk and flopped down rather unregally in the chair, looking thoroughly overheated.

Sarah felt powerful, seeing how she had managed to fluster him, him who was always so in control.

That day passed much the same as the previous, though their conversation was a bit more friendly, and perhaps they walked a bit closer than they had before. They reached the fording spot and crossed the river, before walking the last few miles to the outskirts of the town, a nice, friendly little country town. It was a shame they wouldn't enjoy their time there.

* * *

Baba-wock wandered through the woods alone, holding several magic medallions in his hand as he thought over all he had just heard from the Old One.

B.U.T.T. was doing as the Goblin King had asked, and had infiltrated the castle, working as

cleaning staff or entertainment. He shuddered at the thought of being entertainment for the Dark King, and wished with all his might that this friends in the Labyrinth would survive the ordeal. But still, they had not been able to figure out who he was, although some of the older creature swore that he was familiar to them, though they couldn't pinpoint how.

Baba-wock really wanted to go home. It had been lucky that he and the others had been Above on an illegal mischief run when it had happened. They had felt the pulses of magic from the curse, and had found themselves unable to use any of their king's portals. Then they had felt the Goblins King's presence, felt his distress, and had tracked him down across many miles. They had served him the best they could, finding a gate to the Underground (the one they were heading to now) and slipping in and out, bringing him things like the cabin, or roving around to find food and tools, although their king rarely allowed this, not wanting them to draw too much attention to themselves. Baba-wock himself had been responsible for all the charms and medallions and various gris-gris that now decorated the cabin, as well as the special medallions around the King and the Lady's necks, after stumbling across an abandoned sorceress' stash. Well, at least he had hoped it was abandoned. The medallions in his hand now were used for contacting the Old One.

He wondered if the King would be happy with the news of the successful infiltration. It was hard to know, these days, his mood was even more unreliable than usual. Baba-wock blamed the Lady. It seemed like all of this was the Lady's fault, though he couldn't quite figure out how. Still, it wasn't his place to question his King, so he hobbled and bounced along, rejoining the others as they came upon the town. He would steal a few more nice things before talking to the King, hopefully giving him presents would work better this time than it had yesterday morning.


	9. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

**Chapter 9: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back**

 **AN: In which Jareth learns something important.**

* * *

Jareth drummed his fingers on his thigh, unconsciously tapping out a lively tempo on his leather-clad leg as he considered the small logging community that lay just beyond the treeline. Several dozen ramshackle buildings adorned with rusty trucks and run-down cars huddled together in a brave declaration of civilisation in the face of the late afternoon shadows cast by the dark, dense, looming forest, which seemed to loom ever closer as the early evening hours passed. Most of the humans were inside their dwellings now, stoking their fires and cooking their evening meals, though a few older children still played in the pot-holed streets and dirt lanes. Searching the buildings closest to the lone paved road that ran through the center of the town, he found what he was looking for. Across from a noisy and brightly lit bar, there was a small, olive-green, single story motel with a flashing neon 'vacancy' sign hanging in a dingy window near the front door. It certainly was no Hilton, but it would do.

He reflected that it would probably be best to just go around the town and keep moving, especially considering the gargoyles hunting them. The Dark King knew they were on the move and likely suspected that they were headed for the door to the Underground, so Jareth doubted that the path forward would get any easier. Still, he wanted to do this for Sarah. He knew their rough camping and near-constant travel had been difficult for her, both physically and mentally, and yet she hadn't complained or slacked at all. He admired that and wanted to reward her. The door to the Underground was, at most, a week away now, and they still had a month's time to break the curse. They both needed a bit of rest before running into the dangerous unknown that lay before them.

"What do you say to a night in a hotel?" he called over his shoulder, smirking at the sharp intake of breath and the happy gushing that followed, her voice animated and bright in his mind.

 _Oh, that would be brilliant! A hot shower! And soap! You have no idea how much that would mean to me. I wonder if they put those little chocolates on their pillows? Oh, chocolate, there's a beautiful idea!_

She came to stand at his side, gazing on the town with interest.

 _How are we going to get in, though? I mean, we're a bit conspicuous._ she said, pointedly staring at his unconventional clothing and her own white fur.

"What do you mean?" he asked, feigning incomprehension.

 _Did you not notice the tail?_ Sarah said sarcastically, giving said appendage a swish.

"I have. It's quite a lovely tail. Though I must admit, I prefer that particular view of you when you are in human form."

It took Sarah a moment to realize his meaning.

 _Hey!_ she snapped, pinning her ears back and giving him a stern look.

He gave her an unrepentant wink and a smirk. Sarah decided to ignore him and move on.

 _And we don't have any money for rooms._

He shook his head and snapped his fingers, and Baba-wock appeared with a wallet, then darted off again without a word after Jareth took it from him. He held it up, raising an eyebrow at her in mock consternation.

"Really, Sarah, I _am_ fae. We have our ways." he teased.

 _So you think that means you can just take whatever you want? That belongs to someone!_ she scolded, narrowing her eyes at him.

He scowled deeply at her. "Come now, don't be insolent, I'm sure whoever Baba-wock got it from would be overjoyed to know they were of assistance to us."

Sarah took a deep, preparatory breath, then caught it, holding back the words she was about to say. Now was not the time or the place to confront the Goblin King or his minions about their sticky fingers. Besides, she wasn't entirely sure that she wouldn't have done the same given the circumstances. And it was very hard to stay mad at him when he kept giving her that damn sexy smirk.

 _Fine. Whatever. Are you sure we'll be safe? Isn't that gargoyle still hunting us?_

He considered telling her the truth for a moment, but he didn't want her to be any more anxious than she already was. _"_ The gargoyle is gone for the moment, and the goblins will be keeping a sharp eye out. You need not fear, precious thing."

His words mollified her, as he had intended them too.

 _So how are we going to get in? We're not both in human form for long enough to check in together, and I have a feeling that management might object to wild animals._

"You'll check in after sunset, then let me in at the window." he said matter of factly.

 _Okay. What do we do until then?_

There was still about a half hour until sunset. Jareth answered her inquiry by snapping his fingers again. Baba-wock reappeared from the surrounding foliage, this time holding a bottle of amber liquor.

"Cheers." He unscrewed the cap and raised it to her in a toast, then took a long drink.

Sarah eyed the bottle curiously, wondering what it tasted like, what it'd be like to be drunk. She'd once snuck some of Karen's wine, but only a little. She decided it would probably be best to refrain for the time being, and shook her head when he held the bottle out for her.

Jareth shrugged and poured some into the little goblin's mouth instead, then shooed him off and took several more gulps. Sarah sat down nearby, waiting for sunset to come.

Jareth seemed to be a talker when he drank. And a flirter, as she quickly found out. Sarah was surprised when she realized that she enjoyed this attention from him, but still she was careful not to show it or to encourage him in any way.

"If you'd rather not wait, we could always go now. I could close my eyes and stumble around, and claim you were my service animal. Of course, I'd have to put a leash and collar on you." he said, grinning at her intolerably.

 _I can't even begin to describe the horribleness that would happen to you if you tried to put a collar or leash on me._ Sarah deadpanned.

"Oh come now. It could be fun! Haven't you ever wanted to be tied up?" He purred lavashiously.

 _Stop it._

"I don't want to stop it." he pouted.

 _You're drunk._

"Nonsense. I've been doing this for centuries! Although, it has been a while. And I have heard that a lack of magic lowers one's tolerance…" he squinted thoughtfully at the nearly-empty bottle of whiskey in his hand. He set it down carefully on the ground and moved closer to her.

"Dance with me!" he demanded, jumping to a new subject quickly.

 _No thanks._ Sarah replied laughingly, amused at his antics.

"I won't take no for an answer." he said, reaching down and grabbing her front paws before she realized what he was doing. He pulled her up to stand with him, ignoring her objections, placing one foreleg over his shoulder and holding her firmly by the other paw and wrapping his other arm around her waist.

 _Jareth, we look ridiculous._ she protested as he began to sway them around in a small circle, humming a strange tune.

He smiled laughingly at her and kept moving. "Yes, yes we do."

At that moment the sun touched the horizon somewhere behind the trees, and Sarah was struck with her change.

She was used to being the wolf now _,_ she had accepted it, but changing was- painful. She supposed it would be easier if she didn't fight it so much, but submission was simply not in her nature. And while it might not make it any more comfortable, fighting gave her some small measure of comfort; she might not be able to control what was happening to her, but she could control how she responded to it.

Moments later, she reopened her eyes and was surprised that Jareth still held her tightly against him. He watched her with a strange, guarded look in his eye, a look that she recognized from a ballroom years ago. She waited a moment in tense silence, but he did not release her. A sigh of wind sent a chill up her bare legs under her tunic, and she drew her hands down from his shoulders to the front of his chest between their bodies to act as a wedge, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

Silently, he brought one hand up from her waist and brushed her hair behind her ears. She leaned into his hand as it caressed her cheek, feeling anonymous and daring in the smoky evening shadows that twined around them. His body was warm and lean, and his breath smelt of sweet whiskey, his arm around her waist was only just there. She could have easily pulled away if she wanted to.

They would not admit it, not even to themselves, but they had both been waiting all day for this, for the few minutes when they had a chance to communicate with their bodies what they could not, would not communicate with their words. His kiss was far more forceful than it had been the first time, there was no hesitation or denial on either side. As his lips moved firmly against hers and his hand gripped her jaw possessively, Sarah felt as if she would drown in the strange heat that flared between them, in the lust tinted shadows that dulled her mind and made her want to claim and be claimed.

Her hands wound up into his hair, and he made a sound of approval deep in his throat. The hand on her back slowly inched lower and lower, stopping at the small of her back and pressing her hips into his. Sarah stiffened, feeling sudden doubt and insecurity. He drew back from her briefly, moving his hands to her waist and allowing a small amount of space between them and waiting patiently. Sarah suddenly felt cold, and foolish. She looked away, embarrassed and confused as to why. Without speaking, he turned her face back to his once more and kissed her again, this time gentle and reassuring. Sarah went to embrace him again, but he shrank and twisted in her arms, then flew away in a violent blur of white and tawny feathers.

As she watched him fly away into the darkening trees she raised her fingertips to her lips, wondering what madness had taken hold of her. Shaking her head, she dusted off and smoothed her tunic with her hands, then gathered up the bottle, clothes, and wallet lying on the ground, stuffing them into the knapsack before turning and making her way out of the brush and into the town.

The main street was dusty and ill-kept, a two lane rough-paved road without sidewalks or streetlights that ran only ten blocks from one end of the town to the other before disappearing into the forest on either end. Sarah made her way along it, feeling wary and uncomfortable in such a setting after the last few years of being separated from normal society. She inhaled deeply and picked up the scent of woodsmoke and alcohol and greasy cooking, heavy and unpleasant in air that should have been fresh and clean.

Several men stood outside the bar that sat across the road from the motel, and as she drew near she saw them staring openly at her and muttering amongst themselves. Two of them began catcalling her, and she realized with acute embarrassment that she was still wearing only her medallion and her tunic. She'd been so distracted by Jareth that she'd wandered into the town without pants or shoes. Luckily, the tunic covered her almost to her knees.

She hurried towards the motel, and one of the men laughed at her obvious discomfort. The sound was harsh and made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She was even more disconcerted when she got to the front door and found it locked. Looking at the vacancy sign in confusion, she knocked firmly on the door, trying to ignore the feeling of overly-friendly stares on her back.

Thankfully, after only a few knocks, the door was opened by a wrinkly old prune of a woman, who gave Sarah a frank and astonished examination, taking in her half-dressed and bedraggled appearance with undisguised shock and disapproval.

"What hole did you crawl out of?" she croaked at Sarah, not unkindly.

"Could I get a room for the night, please?" Sarah said, shifting uncomfortably as one of the men across the street yelled for the old woman to send her over to them.

Seeing the woman look at her skeptically, she pulled out some cash and held it up. "I can pay."

She left the wallet itself in the backpack out of view, realizing that it might very well belong to someone local.

The old woman huffed and snatched the money out of Sarah's hand, counting it out and them holding the bills up carefully to the light from a lamp near the door. Satisfied that she wasn't being cheated, she stood aside to let Sarah in, hollering at the men to shut up before slamming it and locking it.

"You can have a room," she said, handing Sarah her change, "so long as you wash up proper before touching my white sheets!"

Sarah agreed, and was led down a dim narrow hallway with dull wooden floors and the same green paint as the outside of the building, past several doors to the end of the hall. The old woman unlocked a door with a painted white number ten on it and ushered Sarah inside.

"Checkout's at 4, and there'll be bagels and juice in the lobby for breakfast. Phone lines are down right now, so you come and get me if you need anything. My name's Molly, and I'm in room one." She gave Sarah's body another scandalized glance. "Leave your clothes outside of the door tonight, and I'll be sure to have them washed and back to you by morning."

"Ok. Sounds good. Thank you very much." Sarah said and the little woman smiled tightly and tottered off. Sarah shut the door and turned the lock, then took a look around the room. It was very small and cramped, but still larger than the cabin. On one wall there was a chair and a narrow door that she assumed led to the bathroom, on the other side was a tiny folding table and a full size bed shoved into the corner. She smiled from ear to ear at the two wrapped chocolates resting on the snow white pillows. Everything was clean and smelled like lavender. Sarah sighed deeply in contentment.

Sarah dropped the backpack and walked over to the bed, but stopped short of picking up the chocolate, noticing how filthy her hands and arms were in contrast to the cleanliness of her surroundings. She glanced to the window, but decided to keep Jareth out until after she'd washed. Surely he wouldn't mind?

Finding a large fluffy bathrobe hanging in the bathroom, she pulled the two pairs of pants and the big leather jacket out of the backpack and left them outside the door, locking it again when she closed it. She decided at the last minute not to put the tunic out, feeling somehow that it would be unwise to let it out of her sight.

And hour later she emerged from the shower, steaming and scrubbed clean. She toweled off and brushed her hair, wrapping the bathrobe around herself and hanging up the hand-washed tunic to dry on a rack before returning to the room. She started upon finding the bed occupied by a goblin and an owl, sharing the last of the whiskey and engaged in a card game on the fluffy duvet. The chocolates were gone, and the wrappers were on the floor.

"How did you get in?!" she exclaimed, a little too loudly.

The goblin grinned drunkenly at her before taking another swig off of its bottle, then tilted the bottle to trickle some of the clear liquid into Jareth's open beak. Jareth swallowed, then swiveled his head to give her a cursory glance, before going back to the card game laid out between him and Lood.

 _Through the window, as previously agreed. It seems our agreement slipped your mind. Or did you willfully intend to leave me out in the cold all night?_

Everything from his accusatory tone to his posture communicated cold anger, something Sarah hadn't expected at all.

"What? No, that's not- I just wanted- you ate all the chocolate! Why?" she said, stopping and starting, unsure how to respond to him.

 _Did you expect me to show regard for you when you chose not to do so for me? I paid your rudeness back in kind. Be thankful that I have no other means of disciplining you at the moment._ He answered coolly in her mind, moving a few cards around with his talons.

Lood examined his hand in dismay, then drew several cards from the deck before laying one down. They both ignored her.

"Really, you don't have to be so awful!" Sarah exclaimed in a hushed voice, getting angrier by the second.

 _Do you hear, Lood? Our foolish little mortal companion believes she is due something from us. How amusing._

The words may have been meant for the goblin, but the Goblin King had made sure that Sarah heard them too.

They chuckled together, not even sparing her a glance.

Fuming, Sarah strode forward and swiped all the cards onto the floor. Jareth snapped his sharp beak at her fingers, just missing them. She stepped back quickly, her hands balling up into fists at her sides as she glared openly at him.

"What is your problem?" she asked in a low, deadly voice.

The goblin took his cue and slinked off the bed and out the window, disappearing quietly into the night. Jareth finally turned to face her fully, wings stiff and regal at his sides, shiny black eyes fixed on her imperiously. She waited, but he did not answer her, and the air became thick with tension. She briefly considered throwing him out the open window after the goblin, but thought better of it. Coming to blows wouldn't benefit either of them.

She took a deep breath, and decided to be the bigger person. "Look, _your Highness,_ I'm sorry if I offended you somehow, that wasn't my intention. I just wanted an hour of privacy. Apparently that was too much to ask."

She didn't wait for a response, instead she turned her back on him and stomped back into the bathroom, locking the door behind her, frustrated and upset and needing to be alone with her thoughts. Only a little while ago, he had been playful and passionate and tender, now he was being an unreasonable ass. She was thoroughly bewildered, and more than a little hurt.

She began drawing a bath, wondering idly at the building's hot water capacity. Once it was filled, she shed her robe and sunk in, feeling some of the stress melt away in the steaming water. She wondered, not for the last time, when, if ever, she would get home to her family, to her normal life. She tried to imagine her room, her school, eating dinner with her family, but the images that her mind conjured seemed strange and alien.

After a long while she caught herself drifting off, and pulled herself out of her thoughts and the now-cool water. She towelled off again and put her tunic, which was dry by now, on and made her way back into the room, not caring anymore if he was there or not.

The room was dark and quiet. She felt her way along the wall until she found the switch, and found the room empty. The coverlet on the bed was wrinkled, and dozens of playing cards lay scattered on the wood floor. She picked them up and put them neatly back in their box on the little table, then switched off the light again and climbed under the covers, feeling drained. She considered closing and locking the window, but some small, traitorous part of her heart told her to leave it open.

She drifted off slowly, and slept fitfully, plagued with nightmares in which her father and stepmother turned into rabid wolves and chased her away, biting and scratching at her whenever she came near Toby or their home.

* * *

Jareth sat on the edge of the bed, eyes roaming over Sarah as she lay near him in a deep sleep. She had kicked the covers off sometime in the night, and most of her long, toned legs were visible for his viewing in the pale light creeping shyly through the window. She slept on her side facing away from him, her shiny hair in a tangle and her chin tucked to her chest, arms pulled up defensively over her chest. He thought about holding her, laying down and molding himself against her, knowing that they only had a few minutes until the sun had risen fully and she changed again, but decided it would be wisest to let her sleep undisturbed.

He had returned sometime around midnight, drawn back in by the disturbing sounds of Sarah's nightmares. He regretted his behavior, but he would not apologize; he did not believe he was in the wrong. She had disrespected him, wilfully or not, and he could not stand for that. Being excluded and kept out had touched a raw nerve in him. Still, Sarah being upset bothered him. He wondered if any of her nightmares involved him. Strangely, he found himself hoping they didn't. If he had had his magic available to him, he could have looked into her mind and seen for himself, perhaps provided some sweeter dreams to drown out the bad ones. As it was, all he could do was watch.

She shifted in her sleep, and the tunic rode up a little further, exposing part of her rear and hip. He felt a rush of hot blood surge through him straight to his groin, coupled with a need to possess and protect. Controlling himself, he reached over and carefully tugged the hem of her tunic down a few inches, then covered her carefully with the sheet. She changed shape a moment later, still so exhausted that she slept right through it. He felt himself cool down slightly, she evoked no physical attraction in him while in this form. Still, he could not get the image of her long, bare legs out of his mind. He wanted to know what it would feel like to run his hands up and down them, to feel them wrapped around him.

He wanted her, there was no denying that. He was drawn to her powerfully, just as much now as he had been three years ago, perhaps even more so now that he was unable to escape her on a whim with his magic, unable to intimidate her with glamour and power. It wasn't just her extraordinary beauty, she was more powerful that she could possibly understand, just by being her, by being Sarah. His Sarah. He wanted her, and he could not deny himself anymore than he could stop breathing, but what he wanted exactly, he wasn't sure. In the the Escher room he had offered her everything and nothing, unable to determine exactly what he wanted her to be to him, but desperate for it none the less.

He wondered at himself for dragging her along with him to the Underground, for putting himself in a position to possibly be ruined by her again. There were other ways to break the curse, ways that he had not mentioned to her, had not considered, would not consider. He shook his head and pinched the brow of his nose, stopping the dangerous ideas before they could take root. It would have made far more sense to break the curse by other means, it would have been so much easier, so much quicker. Her death would have done it. A simple binding of man and woman could likely void the curse's power as well. However the idea of being tied to her permanently, knowing that she didn't care for him, was even more repulsive to him than the idea of losing her forever. And he knew he could never hurt her, not even to gain back his kingdom and his magic.

He had lost everything due to this weakness that she evoked in him, and yet here he was, keeping company with her, guarding her, wooing her. And last night he had fought with her, in what was perhaps some pathetic attempt to squash the inevitable feelings growing between them. Suddenly feeling disgusted with himself, he stood up and looked around for some pants, but was unable to find them, so he pulled on his boots and climbed out the window in only his tunic.

The town was mostly still asleep; the only people visible were an old man puffing on a cigarette as he walked his dog slowly along the main road and a boy on a bicycle throwing plastic-wrapped newspapers at front doors. Jareth was able to prowl unseen in the early morning shadows behind the buildings. He held his hands joined behind his back as he strolled slowly and silently towards the outskirts of the town, letting the cold, fresh air clear his mind and soften his mood. His goblins were out there creeping about somewhere, keeping guard against anything that might be hunting them. He had not heard anything from them all the night, and was glad of it. No news was good news.

Reaching the outskirts of the town, he turned back, picking up a newspaper from someone's lawn on the way. He pulled it out and skimmed it as he walked. A few buildings away from the motel, his eyes caught on the date, and he stopped in his tracks, confused. The paper claimed that it was October 27th, 1986. That was wrong. Jareth knew for certain that it was mid-September, he had performed his own calculations carefully when he had first found himself stranded in the Above. He held, or had once held, dominion over time itself, he was never wrong about these things.

He _couldn't_ be wrong.

Ignoring the veins of ice that were beginning to spider through his chest, he tossed the newspaper aside and hurriedly sought another one. This one claimed the same date, of course. Teeth gritted in denial, he took off towards the main road at a brisk pace, tracking down the old man and his dog.

"You there! Yes, you!" Jareth called out to the bewildered man as he speed-walked towards him, stopping only a few paces way.

"Whaddya want?" The man asked suspiciously, eyeing Jareth's bare legs and wild hair with concern.

"The date. What is today's date?" Jareth asked urgently.

The old man gave him a strange look before answering. "October 27th. Why, you miss somethin' important?"

But Jareth didn't answer, he was already striding quickly away, his mind a furious cacophony. Somehow, someway, he had been wrong in his calculations. They did not have a month, as he originally thought, to break this curse before the thirteenth season passed and it became permanent. They had three days. They could never make it to the Underground in time.

Suddenly realizing something, he stopped again and reopened the newspaper that he had been crushing in his fist, shifting through the pages until he found what he was looking for. He let out a long breath, then headed back to the motel, new plans forming in his mind.

* * *

 **AN: Please review, and let me know if you have any questions or see any errors. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks in advance, and extra thanks to my regular reviewers! You always make me smile, and really motivate me to keep writing.**


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